


BNHA x SAO

by orphan_account



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Love, Sword Art Online - Freeform, fight, game, sao
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23934739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Follow the characters of BNHA as they struggle through the challenges of Aincrad and the virtual world of Sword Art Online!--------------------------------------------------------Momo and Mina were normal high school kids before SAO went up. Before they put on the NerveGear they were ordinary girls, just looking for a way to unwind and relax. What they didn't expect was to find themselves trapped in the equal parts beautiful and deadly world of Aincrad.Disclaimer: Characters and world are not mine. Only the plot line :) (BTW: Plot line vastly differs from the SAO series and this story will only be featuring the cast of BNHA.)
Relationships: Ashido Mina & Todoroki Shouto, Ashido Mina/Kirishima Eijirou, Bakugou Katsuki/Uraraka Ochako, Bakugou Katsuki/Utsushimi Camie, Jirou Kyouka/Kaminari Denki, Uraraka Ochako & Bakugou Katsuki, Uraraka Ochako/Midoriya Izuku, Yaoyorozu Momo & Ashido Mina, Yaoyorozu Momo/Todoroki Shouto
Comments: 21
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jewelsly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jewelsly/gifts).



Momo took in a deep breath as she studied the empty house before her. An entire month on her own. Alone in her parents enormous mansion of stone cold, marble halls, expensive furniture, and crystal chandeliers collecting dust while her Mother and Father 'attended to business' over seas. The house was cold. It was cold, lonely, and it made her feel dwarfed in it's rooms as she walked it's pristine halls. She sighed.

'Alone' was a less than ideal way to spend the first month of summer, but its not like she had much of a choice. All of her parents fortune came from the work they did; it's where all of their attention was focused. She couldn't blame them. In an ever progressing world of technology it was hard to keep your footing, even for a second, which is why they wanted to make sure they stayed on top. Unfortunately, this meant Momo, however intelligent, bright, and understanding, often got left behind. 

She frowned as the doorbell rang, sending the sound of bells echoing through her cavernous house. Who would be coming by so late in the day? She made her way to the door with this question in mind, her bare, frozen feet padding quietly in the great, marble foyer. 

She sheepishly opened the enormous oak front door, only a sliver. Just enough to see who it was but not enough to show anymore than her tension gripped face. She breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of bright, golden hues, surrounded by a pool of black. 

"Hello Mina," She greeted with a genuine smile. She hoped Mina would be staying because she dreaded being alone in such a cold and monstrous house. She opened the door a little wider, allowing her friend to see she was completely alone. "Is there something I can help you with?" 

Her friend smiled brightly, giving her a toothy grin that showed off her pearly white teeth. "Well," Mina nudged the door open a little wider to reveal that she was holding two boxes. Both had Japanese labels on them and a picture of a familiar helmet. "I thought you might like some company!" She stated cheerily. Momo squinted her eyes at the boxes in her friends hands. Rubbing her chin, she scanned the helmet pictured on the box. It was strangely familiar, she knew she had seen it somewhere.

"What are those?" Momo asked curiously, pointing to the helmet on the boxes. Mina just laughed. 

"Silly! Have you not been reading the news?" She poked at Momo's cheek, giggling. "This is the new nerve gear! You know how we play those RPG games together? Well this is basically that except way better." She laughed and Momo smiled, one eyebrow raised. 

"Okay." She said with a small chuckle, opening the door a bit wider to allow her friend some girth to make her way inside. 

Mina pushed passed her, already knowing her way around, and set the boxes on the dining room table opening them up and taking out the shiny, gray helmets. Momo closed and locked the door before making her way towards her friend standing leaning on the table, a smile painted across her face. 

"So, waddaya say we try 'em out?" Mina grinned at her raven-haired friend. Momo frowned, knowing she had an assignment to complete that night and worrying about if she should spend her time on a video game. Sensing her friends apprehension, Mina walked up to her and placed her hands on her shoulders. "C'mon Momo! I know you've been super stressed lately. I think it would be good for you if you just relaxed a little. Y'know, had a little fun! You're always working so hard," She sighed over dramatically as she spoke. "You need to let loose a little." 

Momo considered her friends words and nodded. "Okay, but only for a little bit. I need to finish the essay."

Mina laughed. "Momo that assignment's not due for another week! This is what I'm talking about. You need to re. lax." She emphasized each syllable to make her point. 

After taking out the NerveGear, Mina and Momo made their way to Momo's bedroom. As they entered the dimly lit room, Mina frowned. Momo seemed to sense this and threw the large curtains open, letting in the light of the golden sun, which now seemed cold as it filtered into the room. 

"Much better thanks!" Mina said as she plugged in the nerve gear into the wall. After setting both helmets on the bed, Mina made her way over to Momo, who was taking her time staring out the window. She tugged on Momo's arm, pulling her out of her trance and leading her to the twin helmets sitting on the bed. 

After reading the manual and completing all the necessary tasks for set up, (which, oddly, involved patting themselves down and authorizing a facial scan???) the two girls sat on the bed and took the helmets into their hands. 

"You ready?" Mina laughed and grinned. "I hear it's quite an experience! But I'm kind of excited!" 

Momo nodded silently and smiled at her friend one last time before both girls placed the helmets on their heads. 

"Link start." They said in unison.

\----------------------------------------

Momo crossed her arms across her face, squeezing her eyes shut as blinding light enveloped her. After a moment, the blinding white-ish-blue light faded into vaguely discernible blotches of color. Blinking, she studied the scene that slowly cleared up in front of her. 

A circular plaza type area paved in glistening white stone panned out in front of her. Beautiful columns, pillars, supported arches of marble that opened up to reveal an adorable town like area with small stands selling colorful and out of the ordinary fruits and vegetables and people all around her started to appear in the same flashed of bright light before also boggling at the scene in front of them. 

Momo gasped and smiled at the quaint scene in front of her. "How beautiful..." She murmured to herself before she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She whipped around suddenly to meet familiar bright golden eyes. She knew who they belonged to, and yet, the girl she set eyes on looked quite different than the girl she she sure she knew. However, her smile was the same: bright and full of joy.

"M-Mina?" Momo's voice came out slightly stunned and her fingers flew to her mouth in surprise. The girl she set eyes on had slightly longer hair than her friend and her pink bangs were splashed all the way across her forehead. 

"Wow! Momo is that you?" She laughed and smiled. "You look so different!" Momo knew it was impossible to see herself, prompting her to ask the question,

"HOw?" 

"Well, for one thing your hair is...short! Oh! And your eyes are...blue!" Momo ran her hand through her hair. It was an odd sensation that took her slightly aback. She couldn't feel it, seeing as it was all virtual, but she could, in a sense, tell that her fingers were, in fact, touching...something. She gasped at the strange feeling. 

"I know, weird right?" Mina's gold irises lit up as she watched her friend. "Like you're touching something, but not really, but at the same time you still are?" Momo simply nodded. After a beat, Mina pursued what she had been interested in doing in the first place. "C'mon! Let's go explore around! It'll be so fun. We can go explore those islands and stuff!" Mina's eyes lit up as she looked eagerly around the world in front of her. Momo laughed at her friend's enthusiasm and once again nodded silently.

That small nod was all Mina needed to start dragging her friend all over the beautiful world. They visited shops and towns and even went all the way out to the fields on the floating islands, the particular place that Mina had been begging Momo for hours to go. Momo, however, had wanted to check out the local town shops, Mina went along with her wishes (though not without a great deal of whining). However, this meant that when Momo finally complied, it was already sunset.

They teleported to the floating islands and both the girls gasped. Rolling fields of emerald green and beautiful blue rivers and waterfalls sparkled in the orange and pink light. White fluffs of clouds and the silhouettes of flocking birds scattered the shimmering orange and purple sky and Mina twirled around, feeling happily enveloped by the setting sun. A smile crept it's way onto Momo's features as she let herself be mesmerized by the beauty. 

After a moment, Mina was also silenced by the scenery. It was only after she heard Momo take a deep breath that the chocolate haired girl turned to her friend as a question popped into her mind. "Hey! Do you think it'll hurt if we get attacked?"

Momo laughed. "Kind of killed the mood didn't it?" She giggled as she put a finger to her lips and Mina rubbed the back fo her head, embarrassed.

"Well, yeah but I was just wondering!" She waved her hand as if to dismiss her earlier comment before turning back to her friend. "But...really, isn't it beautiful?" Mina asked, gesturing towards the glowing and rapidly setting sun. Momo giggled in response and Mina took this as an opportunity to grab her hands.

They spun around, danced a little, and played the worlds strangest game of tag before before both of them collapsed into a giggling heap on the soft green grass, breathing heavily. It was only after a moment of examining the gorgeous sunset that Momo suddenly remembered the assignment she was supposed to be working on. 

She gasped and sat up. Assuming time moved the same as in the real world, they had wasted hours on a video game, or more like in one. "What?!" Mina sat up in a panic as well. "Is there a monster or something?!" 

"No!" Momo groaned in frustration. How could she have been so irresponsible? Momo never procrastinated or lost track of time! And when she did, she did it on a schedule. "I'm supposed to be working on an assignment! I'm sorry Mina but I have to log out. I know it's due next week, but....but it's only next week!" Mina pouted at her friends words. If there was one thing she knew about Momo, it was that she worked too hard fo her own good. That girl needed to learn how to relax a little.

"Momo-" She started, but Momo looked shocked. Not panicked as she was just two seconds before, but actually quite confused. "What is it?" She peered over at Momo's player menu.

At first, everything looked normal and Mina wondered what could have her friend so stumped. It was only after she followed Momo's gaze to the bottom of the options list that she realized what was out of the ordinary. She frowned and brought her hand to her chin.

"Weird. Where's the log out button?" Momo shook her head, seemingly asking the same question.

"I don't know."

"Maybe there's another way to log out...Do you think we should contact the game master? I mean, if there's something wrong with the log out than it seems like something they should know about, right?" Mina studied the empty space where she assumed the log out button should be. 

Momo opened her mouth to respond, to let her friend know that she had already tried such an option and her results were fruitless, but she was abruptly silenced by yet another blinding flash of light enveloping her vision. 

After a millisecond where the two were bathed bathed in white-blue light, the world cleared up again, revealing that they were back in the plaza where they first began. Momo frowned. That was strange. In all the RPG's her and her friends had played together, she had never experienced a forced teleport before. She figured Mina was thinking the same thing, as she was frowning when Momo looked over at her. 

"What is this?" Mina tugged on Momo's wrist. 

"I don't know." Momo answered honestly. "If it was a forced teleport, that must mean that this is some kind f opening ceremony or something..." She rubbed her chin as red warning signs painted themselves across the once beautiful sky. 

Momo's eyes widened in shock as a red substance began to drip slowly from the cracks in the red dome of notices, slowly forming itself into something that looked like an invisible fugue cloaked in crimson red robes. But what shocked her even more was the voice that came out of the invisible figure, commanding attention.

"Attention, players. Welcome to my world." The robed figure stated, arms opening wide as if he were trying to gesture to the whole of what was called Aincrad. 

"His world...." Momo muttered to herself quietly. "That must mean that he's-"

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba. As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world." He cut off Momo's train of thought and soft muttering from the other players ensued. Mina looked at her friend in surprise, golden eyes bathed in black wide with confusion and silently asking for answers. Unfortunately, Momo didn't have any answers to give. She was just as confused as Mina was. 

The robed figure, now identified as the creator of the game, spoke again. "I'm sure you've already noticed, that the logout button is missing from the main menu." Some people nodded in agreement, staring up at him in hopes he would provide the answer as to why. However, it may not have been the answer they wanted. Because when he continued, he stated without the slightest hint of humor, "But this is not a defect in the game...I repeat..this is not a defect in the game. It is a feature of Sword Art Online." 

Some people gasped, others called BS, and others still began to yell curses at the figure. Momo and Mina were in the vast majority who just gasped, eyes widening in shock. 

"You cannot log out of SAO yourselves. And no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life." Mina gasped and light tears pricked her eyes upon hearing that they were, essentially, trapped. She grabbed onto Momo, who also seemed to stunned for words, for support, gripping her hand in a death grip. Momo didn't even flinch.

"Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ignored this warning and have attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players Are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world." Mina gasped and her eyes flicked instantly over to Momo who's hand was shaking in her own though she stood completely still, unable to tear her eyes away from the hooded figure. 

"Two... hundred and thirteen..." Mina said shakily as the blood red sky seemed to intensify the horror. Momo didn't even move. Instead, all she could do was stand there with her mouth ever so slightly open, bottom lip trembling. 

Around them the crowd was split. Some broke down crying while others just stood stunned like Momo. Then there were also those who still believed that it was all some twisted trick and demanded to be let out and there were others still who just shouted a string of angry curses at the figure. 

"As you can see, news organizations across the world, are reporting all of this, including the deaths." Small window containing new articles and videos about player deaths circled the Game Master's head. "Thus, you can assume that the danger, of a NerveGear being removed is not minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game. But I want you to remember this clearly. There is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be forever lost. And, simultaneously the NerveGear will destroy your brain." Mina's bottom lip tumbled at his words and she gripped Momo's arm with her other hand, desperately needing the comfort of her friend. "There is only one means of escape: To complete the game. You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game."

Momo knew what it meant to 'clear the game', but with one hundred floors, was it even possible? Let alone actually surviving that long. Unexperienced players stood almost no chance of completing such a task. The more she thought about it, the more unfair, unjust, sadistic, and just downright evil it seemed. She attempted to blink back a wall of scorching tears as the voice that once seemed calm and a source of hope now sounded malicious and cruel. 

"Finally, I've added a present from to your item storage. Please see for yourself." With shaking hands both girls timidly opened their inventories, which they had assumed to be empty, to reveal a single item: A mirror. 

"A mirror..." Momo muttered, Mina's hand still attached to her arm as she took out her own mirror. "But what does it-" Upon opening the item, the entire crowd was enveloped in a blanket of blinding light and a mixture of gasps, screams, and confused shouts sounded. 

"What the?!" Mina squeezed her eyes shut to prevent herself from going blind. 

When she opened them up again, something was different. Nobody was who they were before. All the faces in the crowd that she had seen before had changed. All she could think to do was turn to her friend, her only source of security at the moment. 

What she noticed, however, upon looking at Momo, is that her friend looked like, well, her friend again. Her features that had been slightly altered before were now back to normal. Her shimmering, dark orbs had returned and her raven hair was back to it's normal state in a long pony tail. 

"Momo! You're back to normal!" Momo turned to her and gasped.

"So are you!" They were abruptly cut off once again by none other than the Game Master himself. 

"Right now, you're probably wondering, "why". Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online and the Nerve Gear, do all this? My goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason. To create this world and intervene in it." Momo and Mina just stared, stunned, unable to comprehend that someone could be so cruel just because they were a major control freak.

"And now, it is complete. This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online Launch. Good luck players." The figure slowly dissolved into shimmering sparkles, leaving the crowd in stunned silence.

For a moment, nobody moved. No body said a word and no sound could be heard except for the occasional sob or curse. But, the silence quickly ended as the mass descend into chaos. All around the pair people ram, screaming, shouting, and crying, yelling desperately for someone, anyone to let them out. Begging to be saved or spared or brought back to the real world. Others were angry, shouting swears at the Game Master, cursing his name. 

Momo, however, was in a trance, Mina shaking her arm, desperately trying to wake her from it. What finally knocked her, though, from her state of disbelieving was someone slamming hard into Momo's shoulder, forcing her to take a look around. 

Upon seeing her friends pink face, puffy and streaked with light tears, Momo knew what she had to do. 

Quickly grabbing her friend's hand, she dashed off, running into the streets of the city, which now looked sinister as the sun sunk lower in the sky, causing harsh shadows to decorate every corner. 

Mina could do nothing but follow behind helplessly s she was dragged away from the crowd by her friend, who seemed to be showing her panic differently from the others.

They dashed around street corners, through allies, and in front of shops before Momo finally stopped them in the space between two buildings. Panting, she let go of Mina's hand, allowing them to both catch their breathes. 

Momo stared down her violently shaking hands, begging them to stop for one second so she could think. Please. Please. She pleaded with herself. She needed to be strong. For her and her friend. 

She was ripped from her thoughts by a small sniffle.

Looking down, she observed that Mina had sunk to the ground and now had her knees balled up to her chest, crying into them. Fragile herself, she kneeled down next to her shaking friend and put an attempt at a comforting hand on her back. After a moment of silence, she spoke.

"W-We're going to be okay... We're going to get out of here. I promise." Momo's voice drawled from her hoarser than she had expected, causing her to swallow roughly in an attempt to sound more confident. 

They had played RPG games before. How hard could this one be?....Except that this one was real. This one could be lethal. In this one, you could lose everything....

Could they do this? Would they survive? Sure they were experienced, both of them had had years of practice playing with their friend's, Kaminari and Jirou, but would that be enough to translate into real skills? Or would they end up like those other two hundred and thirteen players, with their brains fried?

Either way, they were trapped and there was no escape.


	2. Chapter Two: Arrogant Idiots

[One Month Later] 

Todoroki didn't join...parties. He didn't join guilds, squads, or groups of any kind when he played RPG's. Or really any game for that matter under normal circumstances. Of course, this wasn't a normal game, and these weren't normal circumstances. 

That being said, he still refused to join a party. 

He didn't have anything against those who did decide to form groups to provide themselves protection or companionship, he just found it completely unnecessary when he was perfectly strong on his own. Those who weren't on his level would just drag him down, and he didn't need it on his conscience when they got hurt, or worse, died. Which led him to question...

Why was he here in the first place? 

His stared lazily at the meager crowd gathered in the small arena type area. The place was made of off white rock that sprouted small green tufts of grass in its cracks. About a couple dozen people of about the same skill level littered the descending stone steps, swords perched on their backs or at their sides. Supposedly, it was some sort of meeting of all the skilled players in Aincrad, but Todoroki seriously doubted that any of these players would make it on their own. 

It had been one month since the Game Master, who also just happened to be the creator of Sword Art Online announced that they were, in fact, trapped in the virtual world of Aincrad and that there was no way out of the game unless you cleared the game, or died. 

When it was first announced that all the players would be held captive, people descended into anarchy. But, after about the first week, people began to calm down. Many decided it would be their best bet to just make a life in Aincrad, to begin adjusting, to settle down. However, there were also many people who opted to clear the game. Then there were plenty of others still that had started forming parties that fought on the 'front lines' or, in other words, pushed forward through the levels in an attempt to clear the game for everyone. 

However, most of these people didn't get very far, which is why a man named Diavel thought it best to begin the process of weeding out the best players. And so there Todoroki was, sitting listening to a blue haired man talk about how they needed to band together and start forming groups and clearing levels. 

He announced that he and his party had located the first floor boss at the top of the labyrinth. "It's our duty as the strongest players to defeat the boss for all the players in Aincrad." He said, opening his arms up to gesture to the mismatched group and smiled. "We need to inform the people staying in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to clear this game!" He stated enthusiastically. 

His words were met with equally enthusiastic applause that echoed around the stone arena. People cheered and Diavel suggested they begin forming parties, much to Todoroki's dismay. He glared behind his bangs, which cast dark shadows over his blue and brown heterochromatic eyes. 

He folded his arms and leaned back. There was no way he was teaming up with any of these random people. Why would he trust people he had met a month ago. For all he knew they could be PK'ers or something. 

He sighed and narrowed his eyes. Definitely not. 

He scanned the crowd for others but no one jumped out at him. Of course, you really can't judge a player's skill level based on looks alone seeing as everyone started with similar clothes and weapons, but he could definitely tell that he was not going to be relying on any of these people. 

That's when there was a tap on his shoulder. 

He whirled around so fast he almost gave himself whiplash as his hand instinctively moved to the handle of his sword. Of course this drew a couple of eyes, but he ignored them as he focused in on the person who had tapped him. 

She wore a simple outfit that fit the aesthetic of the world (Sorry, I suck at describing clothing) covered by a light black cloak and had a sword strapped to her waist, contrary to him. He wore his on his back. It was much more efficient. She had silky, raven hair that was tied up in a pony tail and dark, shimmering orbs that stared at him directly in the eyes. She tucked a bit of hair behind her ear and he couldn't help but notice that she was stunningly beautiful. 

Of course, Todoroki never let himself be influenced by people's looks, or at least tried not to. It was in human nature to trust attractive people, but just because she was objectively gorgeous did not mean he wanted anything to do with her.

"Yes?" He narrowed his eyes at the stranger. She shifted her weight to her opposite foot before swallowing and opening her mouth to speak. After a brief second she closed it once again, as if she were hesitant about speaking to him. "Look, I'm here to beat the first floor boss. I'd appreciate it if you'd not waste my time." 

She frowned and pouted slightly, getting the hint. After an attempt at morphing her face into one of indifference, she looked him in the eyes again and spoke. 

"Would you like to join a party with me?" She asked simply. He could see her jaw muscles clinching in an effort to limit the amount of emotion she showed. He didn't take any time in considering her offer before saying,

"No." She attempted to hide the fact that his arrogance made her agitated. 

"And why would that be?" She was curious as to what made this strange man think he could go solo on something like this. Something that could very well cost him his life. She didn't doubt that he was skilled, he wouldn't be here if he wasn't, but to outright refuse such an offer without consideration was just hubris.

"Because I intend on defeating this boss without the aid of others. I don't need you. You'd just drag me down. I don't need it on my conscience if you die." He turned away from her, folding his arm across his chest as he watched people naturally gravitate towards each other. The two of them were standing at the very highest step, observing the group as people found each other. 

"I see. So you think you have that skill level this early." She inquired, bringing her hand to her chin and resting her elbow on her opposite arm. He nodded simply, tired of her questioning him. "Than you are an arrogant idiot." She stated in a matter of fact tone before turning on her heel. 

She had intended to leave him be. Sure he might have been a nice addition to their small party, but there were others who would be more than happy to join her and Ochako. Plus, how was she to know how skilled he actually was? 

Yes, she did intend to leave him be, but before she could make her escape, a hand caught her wrist. She whipped around to stare at the face of the stranger. It was the combination this action a well timed gust of wind whipping his dual colored hair in all directions that allowed her to see how attractive he truly was. 

He had a sharp jawline and strong yet gentle features. His hues differed from one another as one was a bright teal color and the other was brown and his body wasn't in body shape either. 

She bit her lip, brought her eyes back to his and pretended she wasn't checking him out as they made eye contact. She winced as his grip on her wrist tightened. She couldn't feel it, but she could feel the discomfort that came with it...if that makes sense, though her face remained stoic, as was his. 

"Excuse me?" He glared at her, bangs dropping back to their original position, tastefully framing his face. "What did you say about me?" It wasn't that he was so offended by such a statement suggesting he was an idiot, why should he care if some girl thinks he's an idiot, but it was his pride that wouldn't let her get away with insulting his skill level. 

"I said, you are an arrogant idiot." She repeated softly, trying not to sound as timid as she was. "Even of you do have the skills to pull off a solo raid, what point is there? The whole goal of clearing floors is to clear the entire game, which means that joining a party would be the best course of action." She matched his glare, but with much less ferocity. 

"If you truly are one of the best players in the game than you should be saving your skills for the harder levels and making sure that you stay alive in the initial ones. Bosses can still beat you no matter how skilled you are. You don't know what the game could throw at you and you don't know all the bosses moves. If one were to catch you off guard and kill you than the effort to clear the game just got that much harder." She continued, her voice rising slightly as a mixture of anger and confidence flooded her.

"You're not just doing this for yourself, you're doing it for everyone trapped in Aincrad. If you're just doing it alone for the experience and equipment gains then you're being selfish." The fire in her eyes now matched his, but slowly faded to a mere spark as she calmed herself. Her tone became quieter. "Plus, if anyone does make it out of this game than all the items in the world won't matter." She barely whispered. "It's not about winning the game, it's about living."

He dropped her hand back down to her side, still frowning. He hated that this stranger had such sound logic. It merely made him want to find a reason she was wrong, but since she wasn't wrong and he considered himself a reasonable person, he said,

"Okay, I'll join your party." Her eyes lit up and a small smile crossed her face. "On one condition." Her smile dropped and shattered on the ground. "I get the best piece of equipment you get unless I get the best in our party, in which case I get fifty percent of the col you earn." He had effectively stomped the pieces of her former smile into dust by now with just his words. 

She narrowed her eyes in skepticism. "So I'm essentially paying you to be in a party with me." He shrugged.

"Hey, you asked." She frowned, knowing that Ochako would not like this, but they were only two players and they needed someone else to join them.

"Fine, but only for this raid." She extended a hand and he shook it, finalizing their agreement as she invited him and he accepted. 

"Who said I was staying with you after this raid?" He raised one eyebrow, unaware of the fact that she expected this to be more than a one time thing. 

"I don't know. I think you'll really grow to like us." She tapped her chin as she lead him by the hand toward Ochako.

"Us?" His mask of indifference instantly changed to a frown as he furrowed his brows.

"Oh did I forget to mention?" She pushed him a little ways until they stood in front a girl who was wearing a cloak similar to her's, just in a different color. The girl drew her hood back to reveal rosy pink skin, golden hues bathed in pools of black, and hair the color of bubblegum. "Meet Mina. She's one of my closest friends and our third party member." 

Mina grinned and waved as Momo wore the rare smug expression. "Hi!" She smiled and turned to Momo. "Wow Momo, you chose a handsome one." She quite enjoyed teasing Momo about her taste in men, especially since she was so focused one school work ninety percent of the time. She knew her friend was a novice when it came to relationships, especially romantic one, so it made for good teasing. Momo just blushed and turned her head away.

"You didn't tell me you had another party member." Todoroki frowned at her as though Mina were something distasteful. Mina stuck her tongue out at him in retaliation when he wasn't looking. 

"I didn't not tell you..." Momo said softly, twirling her hair around her finger like a little girl getting scolded as she carefully studied the ground. "Technically I said: Would you like to join a party with me. That doesn't specify whether or not there are others in said party." Todoroki remained silent in response to her, once again, annoyingly sound logic. He huffed, growing impatient with this gorgeous girl and her golden eyed friend. 

"Fine. Tell her the deal." He simply eyed Momo with suspicion.

"Deal?" Mina asked with a small, curious smile.

\------------------------------------------------

"I still can't believe you agreed to that!" Mina whispered furiously as they approached the door to the first floor boss. "That's like, ALL OF OUR STUFF!" 

"What choice did I have? He wouldn't have joined if not." She defended with a soft, sad voice. "Plus, I wanted to prove him wrong. He's arrogant Mina." She pleaded with her friend. 

"All the more reason to find someone else." Mina whined in response. 

"Yes, but he seems like a skilled player." Momo argued back.

"Yeah, I'm sure. But, he seems like a very attractive player." She retorted, smirking and nudging her friend slightly before returning to her pouty demeanor. Momo blushed and shrugged her off, shaking her head rapidly. 

"N-No! That's not it!" Momo stammered shaking her head and waving her hands out in front of her. "I mean-He's not unattractive, because he is...attractive that is- But not in that way. Not like I would date him! But I'm not saying that I wouldn't date him! I mean- I don't know anything about his character... not that I'm assuming he's-"

"I can hear what you're saying you know." Todoroki's smooth, matter-of-fact voice, dripping obliviousness, cut off Momo's slowly-descending-into-incoherent-babble of a rant. She let out a small squeak before her hands flew to her mouth and Mina howled in laughter at her friend's inability to deal with even the smallest mention of romance. 

Wicking tears away from her eyes with the back of her finger, Mina quickly sputtered out, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," as she caught a glimpse of Momo's pouting face. Momo was unamused. 

"We're here." Todoroki peeked over his shoulder at the two girls and pointed at the enormous blue-teal doors engraved with what would have been beautiful designs, had they not lead directly to a hangry beast with a giant knife. 

Momo nodded swiftly and withdrew her sword from it's sheath. It wasn't anything special, just a basic sword, but, boy, Momo sure did know how to use it. 

Momo had spent years playing games like SAO with her close groups of friends, which included Mina. Plus, her parents had enrolled her in both fencing and boxing classes as a child ("Broaden your horizons dear"). 

She smiled at the thought of her friends back I the real world. What were they doing right at that moment? She chuckled to herself.

Kaminari and Sero were probably playing Mario Cart, or something like that and Jirou was most likely in the middle of composing her latest masterpiece of a song. Ochako was probably helping people or doing charity work, being the angel that she always was. Or maybe they were all gathered in Kaminari's room while Sero, and Kaminari quoted vines and memes and Jirou just video taped her friends idiocy...

Well...that or...they were also trapped in SAO.

She shook her head violently at the thought. She wouldn't wish this atrocity on anyone, much less her closest friends. She refused to believe it.

"Momo are you okay?" Mina put a hand on her shoulder. She nodded swiftly up and down before refocusing her attention on the enormous blue doors. 

"Does everyone remember the plan?" Diavel stopped in front of the double doors, causing the group to stop and turn their attention to him. Most people nodded and mumbled words of agreements. Of course Momo remembered the plan. She pretty much had the closest thing to an eidetic memory, but she still couldn't help feeling a little nervous. 

As they entered the enormous blue room, Momo couldn't help but admire the architecture of it. It had high teal columns that supported an ornate ceiling and arched over beautiful stained-glass windows. The floor was polished and shimmering and the whole room was an aesthetically pleasing circular shape. If it had under different circumstances, Momo would've spent time fawning over the architecture if the boss's lair. 

But, much to Momo's dismay, she couldn't let herself be distracted by the beauty of Aincrad. Mainly because it could mean sacrificing her life for it. 

Her head snapped to attention as a loud crash sounded through out the room and a large, mouse-like, incredibly rotund creature landed inferno of the group. It was the ugliest possibly shade of red and had two different weapons on it. One of them he held, the other one hung on his waist and looked considerably more deadly. In his opposite hand sat a large shield. 

The beast growled loudly and Diavel began calling squads in order. The first squad attacked, then the second, the third blocked, and the fourth did the same. How Diavel knew exactly what the boss was going to do was a mystery to most, but to Momo, it was clear. 

He was a Beta Tester. 

Momo herself was most definitely not a Beta Tester. Kaminari and Sero, however, were both Beta testers, and couldn't be more excited to share their experiences with their friends. Momo at the time hadn't particularly cared about their ramblings, but now the memory of them going off about the bosses and the game play stuck in her mind. 

They had no idea. 

Eventually, they had managed to wear the boss down to about a quarter on it's last health bar. This meant that naturally the more skilled swordsmen were supposed to jump in and finish the job. However, the boss wasn't going down without a fight and quickly withdrew the second, much large, much deadlier weapon from his belt, discarding his original sword and shield. 

From the look on Diavel's face though, he was expecting such a turn of events and immediately ran into the center without warning, bypassing the players who had begun to move. 

He readied his sword to strike the beast, but he was caught off guard when the boss swiftly jumped at the last second. The rat-like creature began to ricochet off the walls faster than the players would keep track of him, causing Diavel's head to swivel around in an attempt to track the creature. 

Sadly, Diavel's knowledge was the cause of his demise as the beast propelled itself off the wall in one final lunge headed straight for the self-proclaimed knight. With one movement the ugly rat-creature slashed Diavel across the chest, causing him to stumble back as the other players helplessly watched their leader's HP bar drain to zero. 

It was clear that the game the Beta Testers had played was not up to date with the game they were playing now. 

Momo stood stunned, mouth hanging slightly agape, Mina beside her gripping Momo's shoulder with one hand. That was when the two girls heard a familiar voice mutter,

"That's not supposed to happen..." Todoroki's brows were furrowed in a mixture of shock and confusion. Momo's eyes widened in realization. 

"You're a-" He put a finger to his lips, silencing her. Momo thought back to an outburst one of the other players had had at the earlier meeting, blaming Beta Testers for the deaths of hundreds of players. It was understandable now. He would definitely not be trusted by the others if he announced it. 

She closed her mouth and returned her attention back to the beast. 

"Well what are we supposed to do?" Mina questioned, turning to Momo, who just shook her head as if to say 'I don't know'. For better or for worse, Todoroki answered for her.

"Stay out of my way." He replied simply before taking off in a sprint towards the boss.

"What- no!" Momo shouted after him, but he ignored her warning. 

His hand moved to the handle of his sword before he swiftly unsheathed it, sending the sound of metal cutting through the air. Momo watched in horror as he approached the monster alone. 

She had to admit that hadn't given him the credit he deserved. His technique was near perfect, or at least the best Momo had ever seen, and his reflexes were clearly superior to pretty much any others in the group. 

He side stepped a slash from the enormous sword of the boss, and jumped back as the boss crashed a giant hand toward the ground. Todoroki took the opportunity to slash at the boss's broad red stomach as it lifted it's huge sword high above it's head, presumably preparing to cut the dual haired boy in half. He narrowly dodged the large sword striking the ground as he tumbled to the side before standing up and facing the rat-beast. 

After a beat, he charged the beast once again, but Momo's stomach dropped as she saw what Todoroki didn't: The boss wasn't planning on attacking Todoroki, it was waiting for Todoroki to come to it. That's why it's sword was poised across it's chest instead of out in front of it. The game was smarter than any of them had anticipated. Of course, it was created by one of the world greatest geniuses, but still.

Momo mouthed "stay back" to her friend before breaking forward into a sprint. If what she was predicting happen did, Todoroki didn't stand a chance. 

Without thinking she pulled her sword from it's sheath at lightning speed as she approached the dual haired boy. 

At the moment the boss's enormous sword came slicing through the air, Momo elbowed Todoroki slightly to the side and brought her sword up on front of her face, narrowly blocking the boss's attack. The painful sound of metal scraping against metal filled the air, violating the ears of all the players as Momo and Todoroki tumbled to the ground on top of one another. 

What Momo's block did, however, other than saving both their lives, was to cause the boss to stumble from the residual momentum of his initial swing. 

The boss stumbled to the side and let out a low growl before regaining his footing.

Momo, who was the first of the two to push herself up, dragged Todoroki off to the side as the boss looked at the two with a newfound vengeance. He stomped toward the pair, bringing his sword up once again to kill them, which me most likely would have, had Mina not stepped in with a few others from the group, weapon poised and ready to defend them. 

She looked back at them with a smile. "Get outa here! We've got this until you're back on your feet!" She grinned one last before replacing her smile with a determined look. 

Momo nodded and smiled gratefully at her friend before tugging on Todoroki's arm and pulling him to his feet. As she lead him away from the brutish boss, he glared daggers at her. 

"Why did you do that?" His voice was laced with venom as she stopped to catch her breath. 

"I saved your life!" The rare angry side of Momo showed itself in her voice and expression as she countered his question.

"I had it under control!" He argued, losing his cool because of the strange girl for the second time that day. 

"NO, you didn't! That boss was drawing you in!" She yelled at him, her anger surging out of control. His mouth hung slightly open in silent argument as he attempted to find a counter to her, but eventually He just closed his mouth and let his bangs fall over his eyes when he realized she was right. She, unfortunately, was right. He had let his confidence get the best of him and it had clouded his judgment. 

A moment of silence passed between the two, and Momo suddenly felt guilty for yelling at him. It wasn't like her to get angry at people. He didn't know what was going to happen, it wasn't his fault. She opened her mouth to apologize, her voice coming out weaker than expected.

"I-I'm sorry for ye-"

"Thank you." He said simply in monotone before turning around and rejoining the battle. 

She just stood there for a quick second, barely realizing that he had just thanked her. A small smile crossed her face unintentionally as an equally small warmth bloomed in her chest. 

Even so, only a split second passed before she ran forward again, rejoining the chaos that surrounded the boss. 

After seeing that the two had returned, the majority of the players backed off, allowing them to take over. Momo rushed forward, running up to the red-rat-monster and jumping up to take a slash at it's chest and it's eyes glowed red. At the sight of it's sword swiftly approaching, she jumped back and yelled one word:

"Switch!" 

"What?!" Todoroki yelled in confusion. He had never worked in a team before.

"She said switch!" Mina intervened and switched out with Momo, clearly seeing that Todoroki had no idea what that meant and swinging her sword lower at the boss's legs causing it to howl. 

"What does that mean?!" Mina glared, feeling it should be pretty obvious. 

"It means, you switch out with your party member!" He frowned but was slowly catching on. "Okay! Now switch!" She yelled, leaping back so Todoroki could finish it off.

He seemed to get the idea and was preparing to activate his sword skill when he had an idea. Stopping for a second, he waited, prompting the group to yell at him in confusion as the giant sword swung in his direction. He just waited.

One second, two, three...

he ran toward the massive weapon, jumping at the last second to propel himself off the blade and up to the chest area of the beast. Implanting his sword, he let gravity take effect, slashing diagonally across the boss's chest and landing gracefully on the ground, breathing heavily.

There was a moment of silence where all that could be heard was the heavy breathing of the group. It was over. They had done it. They had beat the first floor boss. They were one step closer to freedom. 

A sudden gust of wind and shimmering sparkles flooded through the area, whipping his red and white hair in all directions as cheers erupted from the group. 

His face remained stoic. Unmoving as he stared at the last hit reward in his inventory. The corners of his mouth poked up ever so slightly in a soft smirk as he stared a piece of clothing called the Blood Cloak. 

It was crimson red, shimmering and lined with gold, flowing down to the knees. It was cut off at the shoulders, exposing the wearers bare arms. He didn't think it would suit him very well, so he let it sit.

As Momo watched Todoroki intently stare at his inventory, she remembered their previously agreed upon arrangement. She sighed and frowned as he approached them, arms crossed across his chest, expression stoic. Momo pouted and Mina huffed and turned away in an immature gesture that a five year old might do.

"Here, as agreed upon," Momo opened her inventory. "Fifty percent of our-" He shook his head slightly, cutting her off. He held up a hand.

"Keep it." He said emotionlessly, but softer than he spoke to her earlier. "You saved my life." He paused, as if considering something. "You deserve everything you earned. In fact," He opened his inventory and removed the cloak. An item acceptance screen popped up in front of Momo, causing her eyes to widen in surprise. "To repay you." 

There was a moment of stunned silence where Momo wasn't sure if he actually meant for her to have it.

"Well, take it!" Mina interjected with a bright happy smile, before her friend had the chance to refuse. She giggled and Momo smiled and nodded. She accepted the gift and bowed to Todoroki.

"Thank you." She nodded at him sincerely. He shook his head.

"Thank you." With that he walked away, pushing through the crowd. 

"Wait!" Momo called after him. Mina looked her in confusion. He turned back with one eye brow raised. 

"Are you coming or not?" He asked, his calm voice tinged with slight impatience.

"You don't want to disband the party?" Mina voiced the question on all their minds. 

"No. I kind of grew to like you." He gave the two girls a sly smile, echoing Momo's words from before. Momo blushed and Mina's eyes widened happily at the fact that they had someone so strong joining their party.

"I take it back! you definitely chose right Momo!" Mina grinned.


	3. Chapter Three: Orange Curser

Step one: Defeat the boss. Step two: Retrieve the legendary item. Step three: Use the COL earned to upragde equipment and weapons. Izuku slammed his left fist into the opposite hand, a determined look crossing his face as he pulled his basic sword out of it's sheath. 

It had only been one month but it was already time for a change of equipment. There was no way he was going to be strong enough to clear the higher levels if he didn't get better gear, or just better in general. 

Of course, he had considered joining a party or a guild or even that group of, supposedly, the best players in the game that had been working on clearing the game. But, for one thing he didn't know anybody in the game, and for another, he was a complete novice. Sword Art Online was the first video game Izuku had ever played he highly doubted that he would do anything for the higher level players except weigh them and possibly get them killed. He was much better off completing lower level solo raids and trying to get stronger from there. 

He wasn't going to be able to save anyone from this horror of a game, if he couldn't learn to save himself first. 

Hence his planning out of the exact things he was going to do during said raid. He was planning on fighting a low level monster named Karnak the Demolisher. Supposedly, the monster was supposed to be slightly harder than usual, but had a chance to drop a pair of legendary gloves that would boost his power exponentially. 

However, the chance was slim and it was likely that he could die in the process, but he was willing to risk his life for that. It didn't matter even if he did though. His end goal was to free everyone trapped in Aincrad, but to get there he would have to get those gloves first. 

He traveled through the ever darkening green forest of beautiful green, the leaves casting emerald shadows dancing over his soft features. He would've smiled to enjoy the scenery if he hadn't been on a mission. 

Somewhere around approximately where he was standing was supposed to be a portal that would take him to something called the 'Crystal Dimension', a realm made entirely of purple crystal where Karnak lived. Though, all his information had come from an information broker, and not a particularly reliable one at that considering he had had a minimal amount amount of COL. 

He slowed his pace a little before coming to a walk completely, his basic black boots padding softly against the green grass. 

"It should be around here somewhere..." He muttered to himself, slowly rotating his head around the forest in an attempt to find the portal. He recited the coordinates the information broker had given him that he was now starting to doubt the integrity of. 

However, before he got the chance to think much more about it, he tripped over root on the ground and pitched forward. He squeezed his eyes shut, anticipating the ground coming up fast beneath him. In that split second he was glad that he was that he was in the middle of the forest where grass blanketed the ground. 

Sadly for him, the ground his face met with was not the softness of emerald grass, but rather the bone-breaking coldness of purple crystal. 

Bright Side: He has found the portal. 

"OW." He yelled to no one in particular as he was pretty sure he shattered his cheek bone. What it took him a second to realize was that, well, he couldn't actually feel pain, much less break bones in the entirely virtual world of Aincrad. "Oh." He sat up and rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed even though there was no one around to see him. 

Well, no one to see him except the hulking beast that suddenly side stepped a large purple crystal and roared at the top of it's lungs at the green haired boy. 

"W-Woah there big guy!" Izuku scrambled backwards, immediately standing up and making hand motions in an attempt to calm the muscle beast. "I-I d-didn't mean to startle you tough guy. Just uh-" The monster roared again and Izuku broke into a sprint, running in the opposite direction as the muscle bound beast cased after him with a vengeance. 

"S-so, I'm to a-assume you're K-Karnak?" He yelled back as he ran. 

He dove behind a lavender purple crystal just as Karnak swung an enormous, dark purple fist, smashing the lighter hued crystal to pieces. He gripped the handle of his sword tighter, his knuckles turning white. 

He lunged forward as the beast dove for him, rolling between the monsters legs and causing the clumsy beast to crash into a large crystal. He barely regained his footing before he was forced to dodge to the side because of the flying shards of crystal heading straight for his chest. 

The green haired boy let out a squeal in surprise when purple, translucent stone above him shattered and he heard the awful roar of the purple bull-like beast. 

He could only assume that the monster - Karnak, was barreling after him as he sprinted across the plain of purple glass cluttered with similarly hued crystals protruding from the ground. He occasionally slipped on the smooth surface, slowing his escape, but luckily for him, so did Karnak. The hoofed beast was facing a challenge of his own with the slippery flat-lands of this environment. 

Eventually, Izuku reached a dead end, a large wall of amethyst blocking his only path of escape. He backed against the wall as the purple-bull-creature neared him, eyes glowing red with rage. His brows furrowed in frustration as he tried to think of a plan that wouldn't get him killed. 

Was he naive for thinking he could beat such a monster?

It was only a split second after the bull charged that he had an idea. He waited until Karnak was less than a few feet away from him. The swiftly approaching, muscle-bound monster was going at such high speeds that Izuku could barely see him, but the freckled boy stood his ground. 

"Not yet..." He muttered to himself as all the muscles in his body clenched, ready and pushing him to take action. "Not yet..." 

Karnak was less that ten feet away from him now and speeding toward him like a missile. 

"Now!" He prompted himself just as Karnak made one last dive for him. He dove out of the way narrowly at lightning speed. So narrowly, in fact, that, had Karnak been a throwing knife, he would've just grazed a lock of Izuku's wild green hair. 

The bull crashed head first into the solid wall of crystal, knocking himself out cold. Izuku took the opportunity to stab his sword heavily into the now still beast.

It dissolved into a gust of wind and a cloud of shimmering sparkles that blew pleasantly over his forest green locks and freckled features. He sighed, mentally exhausted by all the action that had just gone on. 

Of course, since his body was completely virtual, he couldn't feel the actual feeling of lactic acid ripping through his muscles and forcing him to the ground in a heap of exhaustion, but it was as if he could feel something. He could feel the tiredness, the weight of his body, even if it wasn't real. 

He sighed, letting his head fall to the side as he rolled out his neck. "Well, I hope I got those gloves..." He perked up excitedly as a screen appeared in front of him, announcing that he had received said gloves. He looked at them in his inventory with a satisfied smile before equipping them. They were pretty much completely white with only minuscule blue stripes adorning the top and traveled well above the lengths of his elbows. 

They wouldn't have been his first choice, but they didn't look awful on him and they boosted his strength considerably. And by considerably, I mean 'holy shit that's a lot of power'. 

He grinned with pride before finding his way back to the portal and crossing back through to the emerald green forest. 

\--------------------------------------------

Izuku was sitting back at the inn, enjoying a self-congratulatory root beer float (technically he could drink because this was all virtual, but he wanted to save his first alcoholic experience for the real world, assuming he made it that long), when he saw the orange curser enter the warmly lit tavern. 

And it wasn't just him. Everyone seemed to freeze, the atmosphere changing as he strode casually into the room and drew the eyes of every player in said room. It would not have been such disruption had the floating diamond curser above his spiked head of blond hair not been a vibrant shade of orange. Orange, not green. 

By now, most knew what this meant: He was a player killer. 

That meant simply that he either intermittently murdered other living players, or he had recently killed one. 

The vast majority of players were green. But he was not. And it was rare that you saw an orange player openly sauntering into a bar filled to the brim with people. Most PK'ers laid low for a few days after a kill, or at least until their curser turned back to green, but this man, apparently, cared little about the consequences of dragging an orange curser with him. 

The Orange Curser man was at least five or six inches taller than Izuku and far more muscular. Izuku himself was relatively toned having spent years playing basketball, but this strange blonde probably outweighed Izuku in muscle by at least twenty pounds, if not more. He wore sparse armor and a dark, crimson cloak that made him look more threatening than he already was. Not to mention those striking and slightly disturbing blood red eyes of his. 

Izuku flinched when the man made eye contact with him. The Orange Curser man glared daggers at him. If looks could kill, Izuku would be in a million pieces. He angled his head down to avoid another incident like that, focusing on the swirling brown liquid in front of him. 

Well, at least he tried. As another moment passed, he couldn't help but look at the man, his eyes unintentionally flicking up to meet the crimson hues of the Orange Curser man. The second time their eyes met, the blonde was the first to look away, but Izuku didn't. 

What he saw next had him squinting his eyes to get a better look. What he saw was the Orange Curser man slipping a hooded figure next to him a small, ornate looking box. The hooded figure absorbed the box before the Orange Curser man suddenly looked back at Izuku. He held Izuku's deep green eyes with his own crimson orbs, glaring furiously the entire time before Izuku averted his eyes, fearing the man might approach him. 

After about another half an hour passed, he noticed that the Orange Curser man had seemingly left. For some reason, Izuku let out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. It was as if a tension left him with the departure of the disturbing boy. 

I guess that was an orange player. I've heard of them, but I've never actually seen one. I wonder how recently he killed...I know that if you kill too frequently your curser becomes red, which means it couldn't have been too long ago. 

He bounced similar thoughts around his head as he made his way up the darkened and narrow staircase that lead to the second floor of the inn: the rooms. It was eerily quiet as he walked up the wooden stairs, but he didn't notice that, too absorbed in his analyzation to observe the creepy absence other players. 

"You." A large body suddenly leaped from the shadows, startling Izuku as it pinned him against the opposite wall with a terrifyingly strong grip.

Even before his face came into light Izuku could tell who it was by the eery red glow off his bloody crimson irises. Cold fear ran through Izuku as flickering candle light cast shadows that could only be described as creepy across the Orange Curser man's sharp features. Izuku hadn't gotten a particularly good look at his face before, but he could tell that his face was structured with sharp features that heavily featured his red orbs. 

It made him all the more terrifying. 

"W-What do you want?" He really did try to control the nervous stutter (his crush/best friend Ochako had found it cute) that entered his voice when he was scared, but it was a challenge. Whatever this man wanted, Izuku was sure he didn't want to give it to him. 

"What did you see?" The mans voice came out rough and low, more like a growl than a conversational tone. 

"Who a-are you?" Izuku pressed on, not wanting to show him how scared he was. 

"Answer. The fucking question." He growled furiously, yet still keeping his voice low enough that it maintained it's threatening undertone. "What did you see?" Izuku gulped anxiously. 

What had he seen? He didn't remember much other than the Orange Curser man handing a hooded figure a box. Sure it was shady, but the nervousness flowing through his veins seemed to block all memories from surfacing, drowning the words bubbling on the edge of his tongue. 

"N-Nothing." He shook his head, his dark green locks trembling as he did. He swallowed before speaking again, this time more self assured. "I didn't see anything and I don't know what you're talking about." He gave a shove to the chest of the Orange Curser man, sending him back a few steps. The man growled and deepened his glare, but didn't retaliate. Instead, he pointed an accusing finger at the smaller, green haired man. 

"You better fucking not have, or it's your head." He growled one last time before disappearing into the darkness of the hallway. Izuku let out a breath, his chest heaving up and down as his heart beat rapidly in his chest. The anxiety that pulsed through him was not a pleasant sensation. 

He swallowed roughly before shakily making his way to his room.


	4. Chapter Four: Red Eyed Man

Her name was Nina and Ochako dreamt about her every night for two weeks straight. 

Most nights she dreamt about her hazel hair and sparkling blue eyes. They were like the ocean, her eyes. Shimmering, deep, and utterly beautiful. She dreamt about her innocent voice, the skip in her step, the endless optimism that seemed to accompany her wherever she went. She would occasionally dream about the adventures they had been on together, the games they would play to pass the time. But those were the good nights. 

On the bad nights she wold toss and turn, drowning in her own nightmares as she attempted to claw her way out of her own thoughts. But she never would be able to. She was never able to escape the image over her friend's face, so peaceful at the moment of her death, so serene that Ochako almost believed her death wasn't such a tragedy. 

On the bad nights she would wake up in a cold sweat. She would still be able to feel the cold gust of wind and see the sparkles, illuminated by the red light of sunset, the only essence that remained of Nina. If only, she had thought many nights, if only Nina had made it to the real world. 

So, when two weeks passed and she could still see and hear everything so vividly, she decided she needed to do something about it. 

After a fare bit of research and quite a lot of searching, she finally found what she needed. It was called Divine Stone of Returning Soul, the only artifact in the game that had the ability to revive a fallen player. Most sources had told her that the only way to obtain such an item was the Christmas event, which was at least a month or two out, but one. One source that claims you can find said item in a place called the Forest of Lucid Dreams.

Admittedly it was not a particularly reliable source, much less so considering the col she had paid for the information was cheap, especially for an information broker. 

But it was a chance she was willing to take, and that's why she headed to the presumed location of the Forest of Lucid Dreams at two in the morning, tugging only her sword with her. 

However, as the omnipotent narrator I take it upon myself to move this story forward, and taking the time to explain the entire struggle our pink cheeked friend went through would be an exorbitant waste of time. Not that her battle with grumpy sunflower and it's evil flower henchmen wasn't completely exhilarating in it's own right, but for the moment it would be more productive to our plot line to merely tell you that she did, in fact, retrieve the object of her desire, but that before she even had the chance to inspect the aforementioned stone, it was stolen. 

So now, as you might suspect, she needed help to find it. She would have done it on her own, but the fact remained that she didn't feel confidant going up against a real player with real skills. Which is why she decided to enlist the help of another player. 

And that's how she found Bakugou. 

Yes, everyone's favorite hotheaded, crimson eyed, spiky-haired, anger child, and also, as you might have suspected, the Orange Curser Man. However, at this time Bakugou had not yet received the status of an orange curser. When our sweet baby Ochako met him he was still very much in the green. 

Ochako pushed her way through the crowd of obnoxiously loud drunks. To say the least her day had been less than stellar. Less than terrible actually. It had started with her waking up at four in the morning and her subsequent inability to sleep. Then it had moved on to a disturbingly brown breakfast of mystery mush (because that's all she could afford), and now here she was at noon, searching for anyone who could help her. 

She was not getting very far. 

The possibility of her asking anybody from this tavern of mid-day drinkers to help her was out of the question. Which meant the only logical reason she was there was because she had heard the rumors of how 'The Red Eyed Man' used the run down, depressing, hole of a place, as his own little watering hole. A man suddenly grazed her side-boob with his hand and she would have smacked him had he not promptly disappeared into the crowd.

Okay, maybe not such a logical decision.

She grumbled, swearing family friendly curses under her breath as she shoved her way around, the occasional drunkard running into her or "accidentally" touching her boob or butt. She didn't usually solve problems with anger but she was about ten seconds away from pulling out a switch blade. Not that she had one, but she was damn near ready to retaliate. 

"This guy had better be a whole heck of a lot stronger than people say he is. Someone should burn this place down..." 

She was getting more frustrated by the second, in fact she was ready to implode with impatience. This was her last shot of getting that stone back. Her last chance to revive Nina and get her friend back. She didn't know if she would make it in this cut-throat world without one. She steadied her breath as she made her way through the pub that reeked of alcohol. She couldn't smell it, more like feel it. This was not a place she wanted to be. 

And it only got worse when someone got a little too close to her. A man that she, by the way, did not know looped an arm around her waist. He was most definitely intoxicated which was evident by the virtually red stripe across his face and the pink tinting his cheeks. 

"Hey pretty girl," He cooed and she glared daggers at him. He had pushed her up against the wall now, forcing her into the corner of the room a few feet away from a stairwell that she assumed lead up to the resident rooms above. As he brought his other arm up, he trapped her between him and the cold wooden surface of the wall. 

Her heart pounded in her chest. How much could he do to her? It was all virtual right? She can't kill him, not in a safe zone. Plus, she wouldn't anyways. That would be taking a real human life. 

She weighed her options in her head. They were few. 

"G-Get off of me," She tried to shove him with her arm but he just pressed himself up against her harder. She nearly gagged. She didn't know who he was and she doubted she wanted to either. How could she get out of this? 

He just clicked his tongue with half lidded eyes, presumably thinking of disgusting things particularly about her. She made an equally disgusted face as he opened his mouth. "No no no baby. Y'see, notta lotta girlss come around here," 

"Yeah, probably because you're here," She retaliated and he frowned at her, scrunching up his nose as if she had said something gross.

"Waht'd you sayta me bittchh..?" He slurred sloppily and she recoiled. 

"I said, Leave. Me. Alone!" She shoved him probably harder than necessary, forcing him to stumble back a few steps. This action drew some curious eyes. Apparently not curious enough to intervene, though, as they merely stood and watched, gawking at the scene playing out before them.

What drew a considerable amount of attention was him suddenly reaching behind his back for his sword. Ochako's eyes widened in shock and she was suddenly questioning the integrity of the safe zone rule. The rational side of her knew that your HP couldn't drop below zero in a safe zone, but the irrational side of her asked, what if it did? 

"Bitchh, do you know how many girlss would kill to get with me?" She made a disgusted face, but her eyes gave away how scared she was. 

This was not how this was supposed to go. 

"Juss 'cuz you have a nice ass and perky tits dossn make you anythin special." He wailed at her. 

"Leave me alone you creep!" She spat at him. 

"You slut." He growled and started towards her.

She squeezed her eyes shut and tensed her shoulders in preparation to get hit. She didn't exactly know what it would do, but it seemed natural. But, before she felt a sharp stabbing pain or the discomfort of being punched in the face, there was a loud cracking sound, like bone shattering or the sound of someone hitting someone else. She flinched and opened her eyes just a little to take in the scene in front of her. 

"Hey fucknut. In case ya didn't hear she said back the hell off." A man with ash blond hair was standing in from of her, one hand stuffed in his pocked, the other arm brought up, presumably still remaining after he elbowed her attacker in the face. He wore a dark crimson cloak with an axe swung behind his back. 

She stood in shock, mouth slightly agape. What just happened? 

He swiveled his head first, then his body to get a look at her, still glaring, and she noticed. She noticed his eyes first, but not just his eyes, everything. His eyes, of course were the most striking thing about him as they were blood red and shiny, like rubies. But, his physique was not something one would choose to ignore. 

His arms were concealed by his cloak, but she could see his toned (well toned was an understatement) chest and abdominal muscles too, showing themselves. 

Who wears a cloak without a shirt underneath...? Was her first thought before, Well I guess if you have abs it works... but still, isn't it uncomfortable? She turned her head and squinted her eyes pondering questions of a similar nature before she was abruptly snapped from her trance by a gruff voice. 

"The fuck are starin' at Round Face?" In the absence of a name he had gone with the first thing he had noticed about her: an adorably round face with light pink cheeks. She frowned before she realized she had probably been staring at his abs for two minutes straight. 

"O-Oh, I'm s-so so sorry. I mean- Thank you, a lot, very much," She bowed stiffly and too many times, earning a skeptical look from the red eyed man. Wait- that's it! She scolded herself from being too blinded by the six-pack that made her want to kill herself out of jealousy - why couldn't she have muscles like that? She smiled, knowing she had gotten what she came for, er, almost. "Oh my god!" Her expression was suddenly so bright that she could've blinded the sun itself. "You! I've been looking for you!" She pointed an excited finger at him, nervousness suddenly forgotten. "You're that guy-" 

"Hey hey! Shut the fuck up!" He slapped a hand over her mouth before dragging her into the darkened stairwell of the inn that was presumably stationed above the pub. After the sudden disappearance of the Red Eyed Man and the pink cheeked girl, business seemed to resume as usual for the onlookers, most of them going back to their alcohol or their friends. 

However, the show was far from over for Ochako. She glared at the man in the dark, she had already have one creep try to kill her today, she wasn't going to let another one have a stab at it (haha get it, stab?). 

She aggressively shoved him off of her, so hard that he hit the other wall with a loud thud. 

"OW WHAT THE FUCK?! I JUST SAVED YOUR FUCKING LIFE!" She suddenly felt more confidant now with the darkness concealing both of them. 

"Sorry it's just that you put a hand over my mouth and dragged me into a hallway! What was I supposed to think?!" She retaliated and he growled softly. "Anyways, what I was trying to say before I was so brutally almost kidnapped-"

"You're being so dramatic!" He interjected roughly. She stuck her tongue out and mocked him in the darkness. "I can fucking see you!" He warned and she immediately stopped her childish action. She regained her composure before continuing.

"Anyways, you're the guy everyone talks about. With the red eyes. And you're supposed to be really strong so... I kind of need your help with something." She played with her finger tips, a habit she had grown into over the years. 

"Oh hell no." Was not the answer she was expecting. She narrowed her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows at the crimson eyed man in the darkness, folding her arms across her chest in a pouting gesture.

"What? Why?" 

"Look, I helped you 'cause some fucker was harassing you and you're obviously not used to this scene. The doesn't mean we're friends and it doesn't mean I'm gonna do you a fucking favor," He loomed over her, arms crossed and her bottom lip trembled. "I'm not some god damn muscle for hire, got it Nimrod?"

"You're mean." She glowered at the ash blond. 

"Well I'm not fucking nice guy that's for damn sure!" He grumped in response. "If you're looking for someone who'll pat you on the back and do whatever the fuck you want just 'cause you say please, look somewhere else." 

He turned to leave the darkened hallway, his figure silhouetted in the light from the doorway. She mentally smacks herself. He was her only way of getting the artifact back. And that's assuming the person who stole it hasn't already used it yet. Of course she could try to find someone else, but that could take forever and she didn't have forever. She wanted to get her friend back. If only she had a friend from the real world with her. 

She internally berated herself for such a thought. She wouldn't wish this situation on anyone, let alone her few friends in the real world. 

Her mind immediately jumped back to her two close friends. One with wild green hair and the other with silky black. Would she ever get to see them again? Deku and Momo? Did they miss her? Were they thinking about her like she was them? Deku's unforgettable smile and Momo's warm hugs? If she did make it back to the real world, would they still be friends? Or would too much time have passed?

No, she couldn't think like that. She was going to get out of there, but before she did she was going to get her only friend in Aincrad back. 

"HOLD UP JERK-FACE!" The name definitely got his attention, a small smirk adorning his features. She decided it fit him well. A smile didn't seem natural for him though, not like it did for Deku. Ah Deku, sweet, kind, helpful, generous, decidedly everything this man was not. She missed Deku. 

"Someone grew some confidence," He mused as she clenched her fists. "But you'll have to do better with the insults Round Face. That sucked." He gave her one of those toothy smirks that made her blood boil. 

"I need help and you're going to give it too me." She stated it as fact. This seemed to catch his interest. The nervous little girl that had stood in front of him thirty seconds ago was gone. She was ready to get down to business, no time to waste. 

"Okay," He turned around slowly, curiously eyeing her in the dark. He could only see the glint of her chocolate brown eyes shimmering in the dark, but he could see the determined spark in them. "And how do you figure that? What makes you think that I just give my help for free?"

"You want money?"

"Eh, depends on how hard the job is."

"I thought you said you weren't for hire?" She raised one skeptical eyebrow. 

"I said I wasn't muscle for hire. Plus, that was before you were willing to give me money." He shrugged, still smirking, as his ruby eyes glinted mischievously. "So, what is it you need help with and how much are you willing to pay for it?" 

"It's called the Divine Stone of Returning Soul. It supposedly has the ability to bring a player back from... the dead." Her voice was significantly softer now, hesitant as if she felt she shouldn't be sharing the information with him. Her words were carefully chosen, the bare minimum to avoid excess information. "A man, he stole it from me. He had light green hair and his gamer tag was Ronin, but that's all I know." He stared at her, both of them unmoving for a moment before saying,

"And you want me to find him and get your Little Rock back, right?" He seemed unamused as she nodded. "Right, okay. What's in it for me?"

"What's in it for you?!" She flipped out. "You just said you wanted money?!" 

"Yeah, but I can get money anywhere. What can you offer me that I can't get myself?" There was a moment of silence where she just stare at him in shock. "Okay, think on it, but I want it after I complete your task, and it had better be fucking good. OH, and as a down payment I want twenty five million col."

Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Twenty five million! I don't even know if I have that much!" She complained and he glared at her. 

"Chill the fuck out, it's only like twenty five bucks in the real world!" 

"Yeah well that doesn't mean much here does it?!" She pouted, pointing an accusing finger at him. He raised an eyebrow at her "aggressive" gesture. Even angry she was soft and even soft he was angry. She wondered if maybe they could be good friends. Then she wondered if maybe they would be at each others throats twenty four seven. "Let me just see what I have." She grumbled as she opened her inventory to check out her balance. 

Ugh, she had exactly twenty five million Col. What were the chances? She rolled her eyes, wondering for a split second if it was worth it. She cursed herself silently. Of course it was worth it. Nina was worth it. 

"Fine, take my money." She transferred the entirety of her money into his account, earning a satisfied smirk from him and a mocking expression from her. "I just need that stone. It's my only chance to get my friend back...She died and I- I couldn't save her..." There was a moment of strained silence, where Bakugou was at a loss for what to say. He didn't really get how to deal with people being venerable around him. He wasn't a big softie, or really what you could call compassionate at all for that matter. All he knew how to do was breakdown others, he had never really learned how to build them up once they were broken... 

After a moment he said, "Whatever, I'm not getting paid to listen to your fucking sob story." With that he left, exiting into the brightness of the pub and disappearing from sight into the crowd, leaving her there staring at the floor where he'd once been standing.

A variety of thoughts flowed through her mind. Most of them were about her lost friend, some were about the crimson eyed man. Why did he have to be so mean? She just gave him the entirety of her savings and opened up to him and he just walked away like it was nothing. Why did she have to go through all this trouble for a game she didn't even expect to be playing? Why did Nina have to be gone and why did she still have to be here, chasing after something that might be impossible? 

Soft tears decorated the corners of her eyes and a sniffle filled the still air surrounding the deserted hall way. She bit her lip and shook her head, rapidly blinking away the small water droplets. 

No, she wasn't going to cry. Not over Nina, because she wasn't gone yet. She was going to get her back. 

\-----------------------------

It was a couple weeks later when the ash blond finally returned to his employer. 

The place they met wasn't fancy, it wasn't somewhere they had both been before or that meant something like in the spy movies. It was just a small inn on the far side of the Town of Beginnings. 

The first thing Ochako noticed about it when she entered was that it was quaint. Small, cute, sweet. Made almost entirely of warm wood with small plants and succulents hanging from the ceiling and window sills. She remembered her first thought being about Deku. He would love a place like that. It totally matched his personality too. Humble and cute with bit of sentimentality too it. 

She sighed at the thought of her best friend. He could be sitting right next to her in the real world at that exact moment, and she would still feel like they were a world apart. 

She fiddled with her hand, stroking the small scar that adorned the soft skin of her right palm. It was barely an inch long, but it was pale pink and she smiled at it. She would always remember the day she got that scar. It seemed a strange thing, to derive happy memories from something that was usually a reminder of a truly painful experience, but this was different. 

While it might have been painful at the time, the scar reminded her of the first time she actually truly got to know Deku. 

They had gone out to a restaurant after they had become friends, just to get to know more about each other and it was actually going really well, though they hadn't ordered any food yet. Instead they just talked and got to know each other and it was great, up until the rain started. 

Ochako laughed as she reminisced. 

The rain which had pattered down in light streams had suddenly turned into pouring sobs from the sky, beating down on the roof top of the restaurant. Neither of them had paid it any attention at first, so when there was a sudden clap of thunder, it caught them both off guard. Izuku more than her. A little known fact about Izuku was that he was deathly afraid of thunder storms, so the thunder caused him to jump so badly that the steak knife resting beside his plate, along with the rest of his silverware, went flying through the air. 

Luck did not seem on her side that day as the steak knife proceeded to slice her hand slightly before landing on her lap. She just thanked her lucky stars that it hadn't landed in her thigh. 

Izuku had been so panicked and apologetic about the whole thing but Ochako just laughed it off and told him it was not big deal. After that the green haired boy, being the gentleman that he was, offered to pay for the entire meal. Of course they didn't actually end up ordering meals, instead they just skipped straight to dessert and ate and talked for another couple of hours until the restaurant closed and they had to run home in the rain. Ah, good times.

Her smile faded and she sighed, knowing that there was a very real possibility that she might never make it out of Aincrad. That she might never see him again. 

She balled her hand up so she didn't have to look at the bitter-sweet memory anymore and drew her hood tighter around her. It was too much to think about Deku right now. Especially his smile. It hurt. 

Her head suddenly snapped to attention as the bell on the door rang out. An ash blond walked through, hands shoved in his pockets, glaring at anyone who dared make eye contact with him. 

What she didn't notice initially though, but jumped when she did, was the orange diamond hovering a few inches above his head. Did he actually kill someone to get that stone?!

He slumped down in the bar seat next to her before pulling an ornate box out of his coat. She opened her mouth to say something but he cute her off as he shoved it in her direction. 

"Just take it and don't say a fucking word." He glared straight ahead and she stared at him in shock. 

"You killed him-"

"I said not to fucking talk! Got it Round Face?" She swiftly nodded before taking the box. "And yeah, I did. It's not like he didn't deserve it though. The fucker still thinks this whole death game is bullshit, says the deaths aren't real. I'll show him what's real." He grumbled it more to himself than her and she just downcast her eyes as her thoughts wandered back to Nina. Death was real in this messed up game. No one was safe. Ochako knew that all too well. 

She gulped. "Thank you." She barely whispered it, afraid that her voice might break if she were to go any louder. After a moment of silence, she gave a weak giggle in an attempt to lighten the mood. "I guess you're expecting that special thing now, right?" She opened her inventory to reveal a large, two-handed sword that seemed a perfect fit for the gruff rouge. It's handle was clothed in red and it's blade was sparkling silver. She had found it on a special mission and it was supposed to be a legendary weapon. She couldn't use it though, it was too high level for her, but she figured it would be a great gift for the mercenary. "Here."

The acceptance screen popped up in front of the ash blond. He readied an eyebrow at it before shrugging and accepting the gift. 

After another minute of thoughtful silence, they both seemed to mutually decide that their meeting was just about done. She thanked him and bowed one last time before existing the inn that reminded her all too much of her friend back in the real world. 

She felt a little bad leaving the softly warm inn. She didn't know why, but she just got the feeling it was attached to Deku somehow. Maybe it was the aesthetic of the place, the plants that perfect matched his wild green hair, the warm lightning that reminded her of his warm personality, of the softness of the wood that made her feel like the place was connected to him somehow. 

It was like leaving it meant leaving him. 

Maybe she had to give up on him. Maybe it was too much to hope that she might one day leave that place and too much to hope that he would still be waiting for her if she ever got out. 

As sad as it sounded it would just hurt too much to hold onto the idea of someone you would never see again. Like holding onto a happy memory when you know you'll never make more. It would be too painful to clutch it tighter, it would just be watching it slowly and eventually slip from her fingers like water. 

She sighed, drawing her hood tighter around her face against the cold night wind. 

It was time to let the green haired boy go.


	5. Chapter Five: Green Eyes

Forest green hair. Emerald eyes. Flashes of creamy, freckled skin and soft pink lips. No sound but only a feeling. Warm, a smile, a hug. Sweet, like pine and sugar. Soft and safe. The image of a face and the remnants of a laugh. How perfect a memory. 

But what is the red? The dark, swelling and expanding before swallowing me whole? Where is he? The sweet memory of a boy so perfect, too good for this world. What world? Where am I? Where are you, Green Eyes? Can you find me? Are you lost like me? Will you come back for me? Will you stay there and sit with me? Or are you already tired of hoping and waiting for me? 

Green eyes, will you wait for me? Please wait for me. Please. 

Please. 

"Wait!" Her outstretched hand, hung limply in the air, looking pale and ghostly in the darkness of the room. Her breathing was ragged and her body dripped with clear sweat. Waves of cold and heat flashed through her in quick succession. What kind of dream was that? 

Ochako sat up slowly, worried that if she moved too suddenly she might wake up and realize things were much worse than they were. Her vision blurred in and out as she tried to steady her thoughts. How could she have dreams in Aincrad? Was it even possible? And why was she having dreams of... Deku? They were friends, best friends. She shouldn't be hoping to see him again, because seeing him again meant that he would have to be in Aincrad. 

She exhaled in a defeated sigh, resting her head in her hands and running her hands through her virtual hair. 

"Where are you Green Eyes?"

————————

"Camie, not to insult your sense of style, or you, but when I asked you to join in a party with me, I was kind of hoping that we would go on missions... you know, and stuff." Mydoria brushed a hand through his new hair cut. The back was cut really short, giving it a fuzzy feel, while the top was left long and wild. The fawn haired girl tapped her chin, scissors still poised in her hand. 

"Well, like, I guess we could. But like, I was kind of hoping that I could just do your hair." She giggled breathily and set the scissors down, brushing his hair this way and that. She pulled the top of his hair into a tight, small pony tail, a look he wasn't so sure about. "Waddaya think? Isn't it like, totes awesome?" She gave him a gleeful smirk. He let out a small, nervous chuckle.

"Well, I don't know if it really suits me..." She gave him a playful eye roll which suddenly made him miss his real life best friend. He thought of her chocolate eyes and angelic smile slipped into his thoughts. They invaded every corner of his mind until all he could think about was her. 

He didn't even realize he was zoning out until Camie called his name. 

"Yo, uh, Deku?" She waved a hand in front of his face, breaking him from his trance. "'Sup fam?" Her expression was inquisitive, questioning but silently knowing, as though she had already read his thoughts. "Oooh! It's not a girl is it?" Her eyes flickered with an excited spark. Camie loved talking gossiping. Innocently of course, nothing that could actually hurt someone, but chatter about romance and such really got her going. 

Mydoria himself got severely flustered by her insinuation that Camie would even suggest that. A large, bright blush spread across his features. 

Camie of course, took it the wrong way. 

"Oh no no. I mean like, not like that." She gave a small chuckle and waved her hand. "I mean, like, no offense, but you're not really my type. You're too innocent and cute. Like, don't get me wrong fam, you're a total catch!" She winked at him in the mirror while running a hand through his hair, shaping it. "But I'm into something a little more.... rebellious. Y'know, bad boy type thing." 

His face was now twisted into a mask of confusion. That really isn't where he had expected the conversation to be going. 

"Actually..." He hesitated momentarily, wondering if he should really share this with someone on the "internet". Though, he supposed, in these weren't really normal internet circumstances. And, in Aincrad, everyone pretty much had to be who they were. Not to mention that, in the absence of his best friend (who he wished could be a girlfriend), he really needed someone to share with. "Actually it is about a girl." This seemed to take her momentarily by surprise, but her ears perked up and she was certainly interested. "H-Her name is Ochako... She is- She was, my best friend... back in the real world." 

A sympathetic frown materialized on her features. He continued, "We were really close. Y'know, before everything happened, before the game went up... and I just... kind of really miss her." 

"Kind of really" was the understatement of the year in this situation, but he didn't want to start cry in front of a girl he had just met a few hours prior. 

"Awww, that's so cute!" Was most defiantly not the reaction he was expecting. "But also, what a bummer fam. I'm sorry. I'm sure that she's prolly missing you too." She was still brushing out his hair with her fingers. He didn't mind it, but he couldn't help comparing the feeling to when Ochako used to brush his hair for him. She would run her delicate fingers through his forest green locks and massage his scalp softly. It was the most amazing feeling. 

He sighed. He really was getting himself down. 

"Fam, are you okay?" She rested a hand on his shoulder. "Is there anything I can do for ya?" He shook his head with a sad smile. 

"No. But thanks. I really needed a friend in this world." She gave him a bright, airy smile and pinched his cheeks. 

"No problem fam! I'm free to talk any time." 

\---------------


	6. Chapter Six: Don’t Stop In Hell pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "If you're going through hell, keep going." ~ Winston Churchill

Ochako woke up that next morning actually feeling energized for once. Maybe not particularly happy, just energized. She was thankful for that much. Once you start getting used to hell, you'll never escape it. She stood up and got dressed quickly, almost excited to start her day. 

Today she felt optimistic as she stepped out the door to her room. She could feel her life getting better. Today was going to be one of the many days that she got one step closer to getting out of Aincrad. One step closer to her friends in the real world. 

She grinned as she stepped it into the ever pleasant air of Aincrad. Even when it was cold it still had a magical effect. Probably to distract from the fact that you were literally stuck there forever or until you met a grizzly end. Ochako's face morphed into one of dismay as she thought about this unescapable truth, but she forced the thoughts from her mind and continued on with her morning. 

Despite having the same thing every morning, the routine of having the same thing for breakfast every morning had lulled her hatred of the putrid green-brown mush she was served every morning to a dull ache. If she was being honest, she actually quite enjoyed her morning routine. 

Even when she stepped out of the tiny inn she was staying in, she still felt unnaturally happy. She felt like she just knew today was going to be the day that something good finally happened. She really did have high hopes for today, and if it didn't deliver she would throw a fit. 

She strode down the street on a navy blue, white, and pink knight's uniform that she had recently obtained after winning a bet and her hair was up in a braided bun. She loved feeling so confident. She loved feeling like she could actually accomplish something. 

She moved towards her next mission, which involved her setting out to fine a legendary weapons known as Lidya. It was a large shield that probably was as big as her and was adorned with bright pink emblems and trim. Supposedly it had the ability to block any kind of attack whether it was a physical attack or a sword skill. For someone who was as defense based as Ochako, it was a natural choice. 

Ochako carried her transporter crystal that she still didn't know the name of with her as she made her way across the flower fields of Aincrad, the pink tulips coming up to her waist. She just loved how beautiful everything in Aincrad was, despite it being a death world. 

When she reached the middle of tulip fields, she used her crystal to teleport to exactly where she hated to go. It was a place called the Ice Palace. It was an exact recreation of the ice palace from a movie called Frozen that had come out many years ago. Ochako has personally never seen it, but everyone said it was one of the most beautiful and deadly floors. 

When she arrived there, she realized that it truly lived up to the rumors that were spread about it. All around her soaring crystal ice pillars towered high above her head in regal stature and pristine, glittering arches of ice guided the exits to the outward world. 

She admired the beautiful palace and she twirled around momentarily in childlike wonder at the sparkling structure. Meanwhile, she didn't hear the enormous ice monster walking up quietly behind her. Maybe it was because his feet were made of fluff snow, or maybe it was just because she was too wrapped up in the sheer size and scale of the sparkling palace to notice anything but the way the sun bounced off the ice. 

It was only when she heard the low growl of the snow yeti behind her that she actually turned around, startled. Her eyes widened, realizing that she had just about no way out now that she had cornered herself into a situation in which she was just about as dead as a door nail. 

Ochako has generally considered herself a courageous person, and others has always told her she was the bravest of their friend group, but right now she really wasn't feeling it. Right at the moment, she felt fear and total, heart attack inducing shock course through her veins. 

She backed up, her hands shaking as she looked upon the enormous monster made of ice, snow, and quite a lot of what seemed to be burning rage. Placing her back against freezing cold wall of three foot thick ice, she opened her mouth to try and say something, anything to stop what seemed to be an inevitable death, but no sound came out. 

Instead, she screamed. 

\--------------------------------------------

Izuki has been searching the ice palace for hours, to no avail. He had been wandering around it's icy halls, his footsteps echoing loudly with each step, for what seemed like an eternity, only to be met with empty halls and glittering ballrooms. 

He had to admit, however, that the ice palace was a beautiful place. Frozen was a classic, and, even though Disney had long been out of business, Frozen still retained a place in many of his grandparents generations hearts. So, of course, as someone who had a particular fondness for old movies, Izuku had seen them all and, to say the least, he was stunned by the accuracy of the recreation. 

He had almost given up on finding the legendary Sheila of Lidya, when he heard a piercing scream echo down the halls of Elsa's Palace. He immediately snapped to attention when he heard the blood curdling sound and his own blood ran ice cold as the palace wall surrounding him. 

Another piercing scream echoed through the glittering halls and he immediately took off down the tunnels of crystal ice. He couldn't place his finger on exactly what gave him such a sense of urgency, of course he wanted to help the person in trouble, but the sound scream sounded familiar, like someone he knew, and he didn't know who. Maybe that's why he was so eager to find whoever this was. 

He had doubled back to the main ballroom hall where he had first started what seems like a hopeless journey, and that's where he found the monster. The enormous, made of pure ice and snow, towering over what looked to be a defenseless girl. That girl is so dead if she keeps screaming like that! He is definitely not happy with that girl! And why does she sound so familiar? 

He wasn't thinking when he started yelling at the beast. Maybe he wasn't in his right mind or maybe he was just acting on natural instinct, but what ever it was that made him think he could take on the ice monster by himself, must've been out to kill him. Because he suddenly yelled, 

"HEY!" The ice monster whipped around suddenly and roared angrily at him, causing a hailstorm of ice shards and snow balls to come flying his way. He shielded his face with his forearms, causing him to lose a little bit of life. At least he couldn't feel the pain. In real life his forearms would be shredded like ground beef right now. 

The Ice monster was still blocking his view of the girl. He wanted to see what she looked like, because with hall her screaming he just knew that he knew her from somewhere, even if it was just a vague impression. But right then he had bigger things to focus on. Like the giant monster that was headed straight for him. 

The monster swung at him rage-fully and Izuku dodged, dropping to the floor on his stomach, the cold ice seeping through his thin black shirt. He took a sword from his side and swiped upward, causing the monster to scream in pain and it's crimson red health bar that mimicked the color of blood on the real world, to go down considerably. 

Scrambling to the side, he dodged another sharp shard of ice that threatened to poke him through and kill him for real and for sure. He threw his sword at the enormous monster once again and stabbed the monster right through, dropping its HP to ground and causing its lifeless body to topple over and dissolve into nothing but glittering sparkles. 

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief and slid down to the icy cold ground. Fortunately for him, he couldn't feel it. If he could, he would probably be dying of hypothermia right not. But maybe that wouldn't be so bad...not the dying part, just the real world part. Sure the real world was bleak and depressing and he would never get to be with the only girl he ever had feelings for, but it was better than being in a world that you knew you were going to die in. He leaned his head against the wall, closing his eyes in the hopelessness of his situation. 

And that's when he saw her. Her. HER. Her? He saw her with the rosy cheeks and the short, shiny brown hair, and the innocent, beautiful, beautiful eyes. She stood there in the glory of the midday sun filtering through the glassy ice windows and she was beautiful. She was everything he had needed to see in this dank, dark place and she was everything he would ever need. And he couldn't believe she was actually standing in front of him. 

All he could do was stare. All he could do was stare in shock and awe of how his life had suddenly just flipped one hundred and eighty percent around in the best way. Ochako Uraraka.


	7. Chapter Seven: Don’t Stop In Hell pt. 2

Ochako flew into the arms of her one and only best friend. She couldn't believe she was actually here with her. She could actually be with him and talk to him instead of just missing him and feeling her heart give a painful ache every time she thought of him. She wrapped her arms as tight as she could around her neck and let herself sink into his welcoming arms. She even cried as he wrapped his arms around her and reciprocated the hug.

It was only after she had been crying like a baby into his chest for five minutes that she realized, "Wait, but if you're in here... then...then-" She began to bawl again as she realized that if he was in here with her in Aincra, that meant that he wasn't in the real world. In other words, he wasn't safe. At least not like she wanted him to be. Not to mention that he had almost just died in both Aincrad and the real world. That only made her cry more.

Izuku hated seeing his all too platonic for his opinion best friend crying like this. Ochako had never been very sensitive or much of crybaby, but she still had her moments where she broke down. So, he did what he always did for her when she was crying: he stroked her hair and hugged and told her that it was all okay.

"Hey," He said as with as much kindness as he could possibly muster in his voice. As her best friend of many years, he knew that Ochako responded best to soft-spoken words and affectionate language. "It's okay. I'm totally fine, see?" He momentarily released her so she could see that he had no wounds or injuries, not that he necessarily would.

"Y-Yeah, b-but I don't want you to be in danger!" She sniveled through tears. "I want you to be in the real world cause I don't want you to diiiie!" She wailed into his chest.

He just sighed, smiling slightly about how emotional his friend was being at the moment. "I'm not gonna die, don't worry. We're gonna make it through this together, I promise." It may have sounded like a complete lie, but it was at least partly true. He knew at least, that she was going to make it out. He had decided that the moment he saw her. However, he kept this to himself because he didn't want her to get anymore panicked.

So, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tighter. He guessed he better make the most of his time with her. If he was going to probably die here anyway, he might as well spend his time in this messed-up place with the person he loved spending time with most in this world.

\----------------------------------------

"Woah, Deku! This place is beautiful." For their first meal together reunited, Ochako had insisted on going someplace nice. Izuku had certainly delivered on that front because he took her to a small cafe at the edge of the safe zone they were currently staying in. It was a quaint place with warm wood furnishings and an overabundance of hanging plants that gave the tiny shop a refreshing air to it. Well, that and also the enormous floor to ceiling windows that lead out onto sunbathed patios.

Izuku just nodded, thoroughly enjoying the look of pure wonder and amazement that crossed his not-quite-a-friend's face. He loved the way her eyes lit up when she was staring at something she thought was beautiful. That look that only she could wear properly was what was making fall hopelessly in love with her.

He led her to a table in the corner of the room that sat right next to one of the enormous windows so that the light from the golden afternoon sun bounced off the polished wooden surface. They sat down across from each other and she smiled purely. He loved her smile. It was the cutest, most pure smile he had ever laid eyes on and it gave him a simultaneous warm fuzzy feeling and a small dropping feeling in his stomach.

"So, Deku, what have you been up to lately? I mean, I guess it can't be much more than what I've been doing- I mean, that was a bad assumption of me to make." She blushed and laughed slightly, realizing how awkward she was being. Neither Ochako nor Izuku was particularly well versed in the arts of social skills, which made them a very awkward pair together. However, in their friend's eyes, they couldn't be more right for one another. And their friends were most definitely right.

"No! It's fine," Izuku laughed easily, his freckled fack practically glowing with the warmth of the midday sun. He was just glad to be in the comforting presence of his best friend once again. "I mean, I haven't really gotten much done other than getting these cool gloves..." He showed her his legendary gloves that he had retrieved some weeks ago. "Oh! I also made a party with this girl named Camie for a little bit," Ochako didn't know why, but a pinprick of jealousy shot through her at the female name he had just brought up. She knew that she wasn't the jealous type, but she couldn't help it. "But we had to disband it because we were just going in different directions. She was a way higher level than me anyway and she wanted to start clearing floors instead of gaining levels like me.

Ochako nodded, feeling slightly guilty about being so jealous of a girl she hadn't even met yet. Knowing Izuku she was probably a very sweet girl anyway. Izuku, despite him thinking of himself as awkward, actually had quite an easy time making friends because of his nice innocent nature. And his freckles. Everyone loved his freckles.

"What about you? Surely your Aincrad experience has been far more interesting than mine," He said, running a hand through his forest green hair. Ochako tried not to let her heart jump when he smiled at her.

"Ah, not much has happened to me either. I mean, I was looking for the legendary shield of Lidya when I found you, but other than that the only thing that has happened to me is-" She stopped, her eyes getting sad and watery while she was considering whether to tell him about Nina. "Nothing." They both knew it wasn't nothing, but Izuku could tell when Ochako didn't want to be pressed and Ochako didn't want to rehash the past.

"I guess when it comes down to it Aincrad isn't the most interesting place, is it?" Izuku laughed boyishly and Ochako hid her face behind her hand so he couldn't see her blush.

"Yeah, I guess not."

\----------------------------------------

"You ready for this?"

"Born ready. Ten years of Mario Kart and Halo have taught me well." It was rare to see only two people taking on the fifth-floor boss all alone, but these two were no ordinary players.

Kaminari, a swordsman, drew a long electric yellow sword from his sheath and twirled it around his fingers repeatedly, much to the annoyance of his partner Jirou. She looked at him with her ever sarcastic expression before rolling her eyes and drawing her sword as he had.

"I told you not to swing that sword around. You're gonna get someone hurt." Jirou reprimanded him harshly. It was true. She had told him all of this before after he started swinging it around like he was twirling a baton in their room and accidentally shattered a vase on the bedside table. "Don't forget what happened-"

"To the vase, yes I know. But we're the only ones here. There's no one to hurt!" He shrugged casually, still spinning it around his fingers as if it were a mere pencil. He used to do it a lot in class, but now, in Aincrad, a sword was the next best thing. Jirou just glared at him like he was a dumbass because he was.

"Except me you dipshit." By now dipshit was basically Jirou's pet name for her electrically charged boyfriend.

They lined up their weapons with the enormous boss that was standing in front of them. It was looked like an enormous ape that sparkled as though it were made of crystal and had translucent lapis eyes that narrowed in on its prey like a hawk's. If it wasn't totally getting ready to kill them, Jirou would've actually thought it looked pretty, but given the conditions, she found it butt-ass ugly.

"Let's take this thing down," Kaminari said, smiling as if they had already won. Jirou, his more pessimistic half, didn't get her hopes up. She knew that the odds of even two of the best swordsmen in the game taking down a level five boss all by themselves were slim to none. But that didn't seem to curb Kaminari's enthusiasm in slightest.

However, the boss seemed to top even Kaminari's eagerness to fight and lunged at the pair, who split in opposite directions of the boss and rolled to the sides. Jirou rolled to the side behind one of the glittering marble columns that held up the stained glass ceiling of the boss room, making sure not to accidentally skid out of one of the enormous glassless windows. The crystal gorilla just smashed angrily at the column, breaking it solidly in half and forcing Jirou to emerge from her hiding place.

The crystal gorilla, who evidently wasn't the sharpest knife in the shed, looked around lazily, wondering where the object of his rage had gone. Jirou took this chance to slice at it's back, taking down half of its first health bar (first of seven). She rolled to the side, kneeling to catch her virtual breath. "Switch!" She yelled to her boyfriend, who responded in kind by leaping out from behind a column.

Just as the crystal gorilla turned around, Kaminari slashed at the boss and landed next to his girlfriend. She was still kneeling so he offered her a hand up and hse took it grudgingly. Usually, she would protest and remark that she was perfectly capable of getting up by herself, but the situation wasn't exactly suited to clapbacks. 

They had effectively switched places within the boss room with the rage-filled gorilla and were now starting to face it, weapons poised in their hands. With only two strikes, they had taken down an entire health bar on the crystal gorilla without even breaking a sweat, which begged the question, who were these people? 

That is a question we shall answer once we're finished with this particular battle. So, jumping back into the action, Jirou put a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder, signaling him to stay back. If both of them went at once, it would increase the risk of them both getting injured or worse, killed. So, despite his strong urge to follow his girlfriend, Kaminari stayed back. He watched as Jirou sprinted toward the hulking gorilla and slashed diagonally upwards, causing the gorilla boss to raise his fists, getting ready to attack. 

For a split second, Kaminari was worried about Jirou, but he forced down the ticklish feeling of fear in his stomach because he knew she could handle herself. 

As the gorilla raised its enormous fists, Jirou slid agilely between its legs and effectively getting around to its blindspot. But, it was fast then she initially anticipated and swung it's fist around faster than lightning, hitting her square in the stomach. Kaminari's eyes widened and he immediately jolted into action. 

"Jirou!" He yelled dodging the thousand-pound fist of the crystal gorilla that came crashing down into the polished marble floor next to him. He completely ignored the boss and ran to his girlfriend, picking up her weak body in his arms. He temporarily sheathed his sword and wrapped a strong arm around Jirou's waist and the other around her back. 

Thanks to her armor she hadn't taken much damage, only about fifty percent (a blow like she had received should've killed her) but she would take some time to heal and there was no way he was letting her go back out there. It was out of the question. He couldn't take the idea of losing her because she was the only person that mattered so much to him in the world. Losing her to a virtual game wasn't an option for him.

"Are you okay?" Jirou looked up in, slight panic. She had never heard or seen her boyfriend so serious before. His jokey demeanor was one reason she had fallen so hopelessly hard or him. TO see it disappear in a matter of seconds made her feel actually scared. 

"Ye-Yeah, I'm okay," Jirou responded to his question with an unsure tone as he was glaring at the crystal boss with a hardened gaze. "Are you?" Jirou wasn't a tender person, so she really didn't know how to handle this situation. 

"I'm gonna kill this bastard. Stay here." He said seriously. She didn't dare test him in his state. She had really only seen him like that once and it only happened when she had gotten hurt before. So, she stayed back, but she ached to go help fight him. Jirou was not the kind of girl who liked to watch from the sidelines. She felt like she needed to be there with him. 

Kaminari sprinted toward the crystal giant, activating his sword skill as he did. Then, using the tip of his sword, he slashed upwards, draining the second of the beast's health bars. Adrenaline pumped through him as he rolled to the side to dodge the enormous glass fist that came slamming down next to him. He had definitely not made that gorilla happy. 

The boss then made an attempt to smack Kaminari off the ground. He only missed by inches because Kaminari literally bent over backward. He used the chance to slash with his sword at the crystal gorilla's fist, taking down half of its third health bar. 

Standing back up fully now, he lunged once again at the enormous gorilla and jumped as its fist came crashing toward him. He landed on the gorilla's glass fist and ran up its tree trunk-like arm and when he reached the gorilla's head, he stabbed downward, cutting swiftly and efficiently through its last four bars and rendering it into nothing but glittering sparkles. 

And just like that, it was over. Over before Jirou had even known what happened. All she could do was stare at Kaminari who had completely changed in the span of what seemed like a few seconds but what was, in reality, was over fifteen minutes. He was so serious, so dark, and completely unlike how Jirou had ever seen him before. She couldn't tell if she found it hot or utterly terrifying. 

Kaminari stood, his hair falling over his eyes and casting them into shadows. His sword dangled limply from his hand and he was breathing pretty heavily, but he still managed to stand up straight and smile brightly at Jirou. There he was. There was the Kaminari she knew so well. She tried how she breathed a sigh of relief. Serious Kaminari could be very attractive in his own right, but goofball Kaminari which was just Kaminari was the only guy she could have feelings for. 

When he walked back over to her, she tried and failed to hold back a slight blush. 

"Hey, I'm gonna carry you back, okay? You shouldn't be walking around like this." It was true that he was right and she was too weak to stand, but she couldn't help her stubborn side from protesting silently. But nevertheless, she let him pick her up bridal style and leaned into his chest. 

"Hey, are you okay? You were...very serious back there and you're just... not like that." She said sleepily. She couldn't feel the pain that should be throbbing in her chest by now, but at the same time, there was a strange awareness of the feeling that was equally painful if not more than actually feeling the physical pain. But, Jirou being Jirou, she wouldn't let herself show that. Instead, she tried to remain calm. 

"I'm fine." He said cheerily. "I just don't like seeing you get hurt."


	8. Chapter Eight: Meeting Camie

(Two weeks later)

Momo peered at her reflection in the mirror.

The Blood Cloak Todoroki had given her in the first-floor boss battle over loosely flowed over her figure. A red skirt and a low cut black shirt with matching thigh-high socks hugged her curves. Mina had chosen the outfit for her. Supposedly they "matched well" and "followed her aesthetic" but Momo was less than enthusiastic about it. All she could see was how short the skirt was, how tight the entire outfit was. Really, the only parts of her outfit that she didn't find either too short, too revealing, or just too small in general, were the sparing, sparkly-silver pieces of armor that decorated her left shoulder and forearms and, of course, the Blood Cloak.

She grimaced.

"Mina!" She whined. Her friend knew what was coming before Momo even said it. "I'm not trying to insult your fashion sense, because you really do have a good eye, but don't you think these clothes are just a little bit...small?" She whispered the last word as if she were worried someone would hear.

"Momo!" Mina scolded. "You look beautiful! Don't worry about it so much! Plus, you look like a badass with that armor girl and that sword. Damn." Mina let out a whistle of approval and Momo frowned with a sigh.

"Okay...I guess...." She really wanted to change into something less revealing, maybe something that didn't show so much cleavage? But she saw how satisfied her pink friend was with the outfit so she put up with it.

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation before Mina could take away any more clothing. Momo sighed in relief, just happy that this nightmare makeover session was over. At least for now. Mina got up to answer it, giving Momo a wink and a thumbs-up as she did. However, in reality, Momo may have preferred the door stay closed because much to Momo's dismay, the door swung open to reveal Todoroki, standing stiffly in the doorway, hands in his pocket and his usual emotionless expression plastered on his face.

"Hey, Todoroki!" Mina grinned deviously before making her way back behind Momo. Mina placed her hands on her friend's hips and smirked. "Momo's feeling self-conscious, but doesn't she look hot?" Mina outlined the curves of Momo's body, causing a bright blush to press across the girl's face. Momo was a very beautiful girl but her the combination of her humility and bottom of the barrel self-esteem issues made it nearly impossible for her to see that. Instead, she insisted on wearing large clothing that his her body beneath its fuzzy layers. 

Todoroki, who was not used to being confronted with such questions, choked on air. In reality, he thought he had never seen a girl more beautiful, but his personality would allow no such flattery to just casually take place. So, after a mild coughing fit, he cleared his throat in a gentlemanly way and said, "Um, uh, yeah. Yes. She looks very beautiful."

"See, Momo. I told you you look like a damn snack." Mina winked again, causing Momo to break done, a blushing mess, in her own hands. When the raven-haired girl finally recovered after what seemed like an eternity to her but in reality was only about thirty seconds, she clapped back at Mina gently.

"And I told you you wasted your money on these clothes." Momo sighed, putting a hand on her cheek and shaking her head slightly.

"Um, yes, well, that's good..." Todoroki stumbled over his words in an attempt to sound composed. Mina just smirked gleefully at him She seemed to be the only one who couldn't feel the awkward sexual tension brewing in the air. Probably because, of the three of them, she was the only one who wasn't involved in the awkward sexual tension.

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

"The fifth floor was just cleared by two swordsmen," Todoroki cleared his throat as he informed the two girls sitting in front of him of the information he had just recently received. Momo's eyes widened and she just stared in shock and awe while Mina's eyes bugged out of her head. 

"Two?!" Mina practically screamed. It was hard for her to fathom that only two people had taken down an entire fifth-floor boss all by themselves. Usually, there had to be at least two parties to take down the first-floor boss much less a fifth-floor boss. These guys were either so unbelievably, crazily skilled, or they were just some shmucks who had found some way to cheat the system really really well. "And are they dead?!" 

"No," Todoroki answered in the most ominous tone possible. He really hadn't meant it that way but his voice was just naturally suited to dark phrases. "But we're not here to talk about them. We're here to talk about how we're going to defeat the sixth-floor boss. We have," He checked a clock on the wall for the time. It read four-thirty. "Two hours to come up with some sort of strategy because if we want to get to the boss before the White Knights do, we have to take it down quickly."

Mina scrunched her eyebrows up cynically. "Oh really," She didn't at all like the prospect of fighting a sixth-floor boss all by themselves. Especially because Momo had managed to level up quite a bit faster than her and, even if Momo was equipped to handle it, Mina definitely wasn't. She had only recently obtained the class of beast tamer after she managed to get a Peafairie to stay by her side. A Peafiarie was a small, fluffy creature that, if leveled up properly would eventually turn into a large, glittering white tiger. However, despite Momo and Todoroki being at level 75, both the Peafaire and Mina were only somewhere around level 45. This did not bode well for her. "And the three of us are going to take down a boss with TEN HEALTH BARS?" 

Todoroki took a deep breath in. He knew she was going to go there. Mina wasn't usually the cynical type, but after getting to know her over the past few weeks, Todoroki had learned tat Mina didn't particularly like him. She definitely didn't hate him, but she never sided with him on anything. 

"Mina, we're plenty capable of taking down this boss between the three of us," Mina humphed. Yeah, she thought, maybe you guys are with your legendary weapons and cool sword skills. But guess what, some of us don't have fancy skills and shit. The pink girl grumped to herself, folding her arms across her chest. "Momo's legendary equipment will allow us to take down health bars quickly and my level will increase our reward. And if it all goes well we might get a piece of high-grade armor for you, Mina." 

"Wow, that makes me feel so much better," Mina rolled sarcastically. Todoroki didn't really seem to understand the premise of sarcasm and just nodded starkly at Mina. Mina just squinted her eyes at him and shrugged as if to say, "what?" 

"We leave in two hours," Todoroki said seriously, not giving either Mina or Momo a chance to protest. They all knew that the only way they were getting out of here is if all the floors were cleared, but while Todoroki certainly had the drive to clear all one hundred floors by himself, neither Momo nor Mina felt the same pull to combat. Momo, a hesitant girl, didn't like fighting anyone or anything. She would do it to survive, but she avoided it at all costs. Mina, however, had enough fight in her for the three of him but was risking their own lives really worth winning one boss fight? 

.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+

"You wanna challenge me to a what?" Bakugou raised a skeptical eyebrow and the corner of his mouth quirked up in a slight, toothy smirk. What had inspired his skeptical smirk was another player that he assumed was a girl based on her height and voice. It was light, like a cloud, and she spoke with a weird speech pattern, as though she were speaking in internet slang. However, he couldn't totally confirm her identity because of a light, lime green hood that led into a floor-length cloak, embellished with white elven designs. All that was visible was her mouth, which he could see curl into a smirk.

"You heard me, fam. I wanna challenge you to a duel," Her voice was light and breezy as if it were no big thing, but it hid her true intentions. That Bakugou was sure of. 

"Oh yeah?" He said in his gruff voice. Bakugou folded his arms across his chest and smirked smugly now. He was already a very arrogant person as it was and the deadly combination of his pride and over-confidence in himself lead him to believe that she couldn't possibly beat him. A five foot three girl that didn't even have the guts to show her face to him. Yeah, there was no possible way that this little girl was going to take him down. "And what would the stakes of this duel?" 

Her full lips just curled into a devilish smile. If only he had been able to see her eyes, he might have reconsidered his confidence in himself. "If you win, you can ask me to do whatever you want. But if I win," She could practically taste the object of her desire. "I want your pretty bracelet." She pointed to the Bracelet of Azaroth that hung loosely from his wrist. The Bracelet of Azaroth was a legendary piece of armor that was adorned with ruby gems and gold embellishments. But she didn't just like it because it was shiny. She liked it because it would provide her already relatively high level with a staggering amount of power. She would be unbeatable and maybe even be able to make it out of this hell. 

He scoffed at her as though she were a child asking for a toy. "So you just want this?" He held up his wrist. The bracelet meant little to nothing to him. In fact, the only reason he even had it was because he had won a bet against a guy in a bar and he had chosen the most expensive-looking thing on the chump's body. Well, it was either that or his pants. He hadn't been fully aware of what it could have done for his power had it not been negated by his forearm guard, which, since it in itself was both a wrist decoration and legendary item, couldn't be worn with another legendary wrist item. The rule was technically a glitch in the game, but since almost all contact with the game master had been cut off, nobody had a chance to contact him about it. 

She nodded at him calmly before turning her head slightly to the side. "So, do you accept?" Her voice was smooth and seductively deceptive as she proposed to him an offer he simply couldn't refuse. Bakugou being the prideful man that he was, accepted with a broad smirk and unhooked his battle-ax from behind his back. 

"Hell yeah," He said smugly. The mysterious woman smiled mischievously. He committed her smile to memory. She was definitely hiding something, he just didn't know what quite yet, and that devilish smile is what would most definitely be hiding her deep dark secret. 

"Alright then, I'll allow you to make the first move," She said, not moving a single muscle. It bugged Bakugou how calm she was in the face of him. She was the one that should be on edge, not him. In all truthfulness, Bakugou may just have been the strongest player in Aincrad, but he still couldn't help the odd feeling he got around this girl like she had some deadly trick up her sleeve. 

Bakugou, however, was not one to hesitate in the face of a challenge. He lunged forward immediately with his ax, hoping to get in a solid hit before she started making her attack. He was a largely offensive player so he didn't want her being able to get to close. 

She dodged it easily, as though he were some mere gust of wind to avoid. Her cape flowed out behind her as she switched her position, but she made sure to stay away from any breeze that might reveal her identity. 

In retaliation to her, he swung his ax sideways at her with one hand, releasing it at the perfect angle and jumping up to flip behind her. Before she had a chance to react, he elbowed her harshly in the back, a foolproof way to make sure she was perfectly in the path of his blood-thirsty ax. 

However, she was gone before he even knew what was happening. Just disappeared into thin air as though she had...teleported. No, that couldn't be it. There was no such ability that allowed players to teleport other than with their crystals, but that was just to get to different floors. 

So, he had to play it differently. So far she wasn't making any sort of move to attack him and instead seemed content to just keep dodging his attacks. Maybe she was trying to wear him out? 

He swung his leg low in an attempt to trip her up, but she was gone once again, disappearing into what seemed to be mere particles. The most interesting part of this, however, was that she suddenly seemed to appear behind him. How she had got there, nether Bakugou nor the onlookers in the bar she'd challenged him in knew. 

She then proceeded to kick him so hard in the back that he flew across the room and hit the opposite wall, causing jagged cracks to splinter out from where he had landed. She put her leg down, her face still shrouded in darkness and ignored the stunned faces of the sweaty bar-goers. The place she had met him in was such a hole. She doubted anyone but him actually enjoyed their time in this place. 

After Bakugou had pushed himself off of the splintered wall, he growled, angry that someone had made such a fool of him in his own domain. Around this pig-sty of a place, he was the absolute king. And everyone knew he wasn't afraid to play orange or even red for a little while to complete jobs and such. That's why he had chosen a bar that lay just outside of the safe zone. All the real money was in shady jobs anyway. 

He ripped his ax from the now broken wood floor and hurled it across the room at her, his sheer power causing everyone to stand back a bit from him. She barely even flinched as she tilted her head slightly to the side to dodge it. This only enraged him further and he started to sprint at her. 

Just as he reached her, she brought her elbow up to his face in a simple but effective gesture. Somehow, this girl was releasing more power than even the king himself and she was managing to beat him after only have made two offensive moves. 

Even with his life depleted to half now, he still pushed himself up and angrily charged at her, grabbing her by the waist and pushing her down to the floor. He grinned smugly as he pushed down on her wrists with his large hands, relatively sure that he had won by now. He was even so confident as to reach to push up her hood when she suddenly disappeared from out from under him. 

He suddenly felt the sharp stabbing pain of a heeled boot being pushed aggressively between his shoulder blades. He collapsed to the ground, not of his own free will, and growled angrily as she put a harsh knee between his shoulder blades and sat back on her heels. 

The mystery woman smiled under the protection of the shadows being cast on her face by her hood. She had to admit that she was kind of proud of herself. She hadn't even needed to use her sword thanks to the Energy Release Crystal she was holding in the palm of her hand. 

"I'll take that bracelet now, fam," By now every person in the crowd was aching to get a view of the mystery woman's face. Many speculated that she must've been really beautiful. After all, with a body like that, how could she be ugly. But others thought she must be hideous under that hood, or else she wouldn't be trying to hide her face. 

She released the pressure on his back just enough for him to roll over and grudgingly remove the gaudy bracelet from his wrist. She thanked him for it as she took it hastily from him and added it to her personal inventory. Then she gave him a toothy grin beneath her lime-green hood.

"As your reward for trying so hard, I'll take off my hood," She smiled genuinely and moved her hand to the top of her hood. The crowd held it's breath in anticipation of seeing the mystery woman's face. Was she going to be gorgeous? Hideous? Completely average? Was she even human? Was that kind of power even possible? 

She then pulled off her hood. The crowd gasped. She was beautiful. She had warm, honey brown eyes and hazelnut hair that cascaded down her shoulders in gentle waves. And her full lips were curved into a beautiful smile, her long eyelashes fluttering delicately. Even Bakugou couldn't help but blush, though if he was ever asked about it, he would deny it till his dying breath. 

"How the fuck did you beat me?" He couldn't stop the ever-growing blush on his face, but he could damn well deflect as much as possible. It was his best tactic when he ever got embarrassed, which he definitely was not currently. She just laughed angelically and scratched the back of her head, a little embarrassed. 

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that fam!" She opened her hand to reveal a small crystal orb that shimmered with a pearlescent glow. "It's an Energy Release Crystal. It lets me turn my energy into any form I choose. Which is why I was able to teleport and hit you so hard..." she laughed wholesomely. "Buuut...well, it does have a limit. But I really needed your bracelet-"

"You bitch! You cheated!" She growled loudly at her. She frowned slightly and even looked a little sad, which made him feel a little guilty but only for a quick, shameful second. 

"Wait, no!" She said, folding her arms across her chest. "You never said there were no magic items allowed." He hated that she was right. He never had said that magic items weren't allowed. Which meant that she was strictly within the limitations of the rules. He just grumbled something under his breath, probably a string of curses, and pushed her gently off of him. 

He turned his back to her and grumbled to himself grumpily. She didn't exactly know what was happening with him, but it was clear she had definitely pissed him off a little bit. So, she wanted to make things better. She tapped him on the shoulder. 

"Hey, fam, are you okay?" She asked kindly, with one eyebrow raised. She was trying to be nice to him, but he suddenly whipped around and yelled at her at the top of his lungs. "Woah!" She jumped back a little startled. 

"What is your name?!" He yelled angrily, his face a bright red blush color that didn't really have a name. She could sense that he might have been a little embarrassed and she just giggled a little bit. This only seemed to enrage him more, but she was having a hard time controlling her laughter. "Stop laughing at me and tell me your fucking name!" 

"Okay, okay, fam!" She couldn't stop laughing, though, her cheeks a light rosy pink and her expression one of angelic joy. "My name is Camie!" 

.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+


	9. Chapter Nine: The Beastmaster Gets A New Beast

"Just settle down you little- AHHHH!" Mina screamed as she was thrown from the fluffy back of an enormous white lion. Its pearly fur gleamed in the late afternoon sun and its eyes glowed with stark translucence as it looked Mina dead in the eye. Enormous wings attached to its back fluttered fiercely as it growled angrily at her. She growled back. She was so done with this thing, but she couldn't stop now. She had been there for two hours trying to wrangle that thing so she damn well wasn't giving up now, even if it meant losing every single hit point she had. 

Her back hit the tree with a cracking sound and she screamed out in the awareness of pain shooting through her spine. Landing on her knees, she cracked her neck and gridded her teeth through the sensation that boarded on pain. She wasn't losing to this thing. 

Screaming at the thing, a tactic which seemed to work on the enormous beast, she launched herself at it, grabbing onto its luscious white mane and flipping herself onto its back. It wrestled with her grip, challenging her strength by flipping its head back and forth and shaking wildly under her grasp. She just held on for dear life, another flying descent from this thing and she would be a goner for sure. She entangled her fingers in its silky smooth mane and wrapped her legs around its torso, using all her strength to stay on its back. 

How long is this supposed to take? Mina thought to herself, grunting as her head hit the spine of the beast. Supposedly, all you had to do to was stay on it's back for a full sixty seconds, but it felt like Mina had been on there for an eternity and a half, just being flailed around like a limp noodle. However, in reality, she still had thirty seconds left. 

She grunted in pain as the lion suddenly proceeded to begin bouncing up and down like a kitten playing a toy, causing her to bounce up and down with it. "St-op....fucking-bouncing...ME!" She yelled at the enormous lion just before it suddenly settled down. If only she had thought to do that earlier. She breathed a sigh of relief as the lion suddenly stopped moving under her. She et herself exhale and flop limply on top of her new lion friend. 

The lion seemed exhausted from the whole ordeal as well, dipping its head and snorting like a horse. 

"Yeah, me too buddy," Mina sighed. She had wasted half her health bar trying to get this thing to be her friend. Now she was about ready to take a twelve-hour nap. But she couldn't sleep just yet, because she still had to name this thing. The most important part of taming a beast was naming it. By naming your beast you ensured life long friendship between the two of you and thus formed an unbreakable bond of loyalty. 

She suddenly sat up on the beast's back and it looked at her with innocent curiosity. HSe liked how cute the winged lion looked. Kind of like an enormous, white, feline, winged puppy dog with strangely colored eyes. So, in other words, not a puppy dog in the slightest. "Let's see....what to name you?" Mina tapped her chin thoughtfully, trying to think of a name that was both mystical and adorable. That's when it suddenly popped into her brain. The perfect name that she had remembered from a class she had taken a long time ago. "I'll name you Aphrodite! Goddess of love. Adorable and beautiful." She smiled at the creature who just stared at her curiously. "Oh come on, it's not that bad!" She shrugged. She had only been friends with the creature for a few minutes, but it was as if she could already understand it. 

It was then that the creature suddenly gave her the slip, causing her to fall on her but on the harsh ground of the forest. It suddenly took off down the well-trodden dirt path that she had encountered and fought the beast on. It cut through the forest at lightning speed and ran off into the darkness. 

"Oh come on!" She yelled at the thing that haad suddenly disappeared on her. Two hours of work and a whole lot of health lost and this is what she got for her efforts, a runaway, mythic lion. She sighed defeatedly and let her fists fall limply to the ground. She guessed it was just as well. Where would she keep the enormous beast anyways? 

What she hadn't realized was that the beast hadn't run away for any selfish reasons other than that it was scared. Of what, you might ask? Oh, just of the silent hunter waiting in the shadows for Mina. He stood gracefully on a branch above the pink-skinned girl, observing her silently from the shadows. If she had known he was there, she would've demanded his presence, but since she was completely oblivious, she merely sat, disappointed in herself and her abilities.

What a way to kick her when she's down... The hunter thought silently, guilty. He wished he was a better person, because then maybe he would have enough of a guilty conscience not to go through with what he was assigned to do. But seeing as he was a desperate man in a desperate situation, this was the only way he could see out of his situation. He would just have to play orange for a little bit.

The only warning Mina was given before she felt a hand cupped tightly around her mouth was the slight crunching of a pair of boots behind her. She squirmed under the tight grasp and made a muffled sound that he assumed were cries for help. In reality, though, she was just letting out a very long string of curse words at him. 

He drew his sword from his side and brought his lips close to her ear so he could communicate with her. "Please stop struggling. This will be over quickly if you just relax. It'll all be so much easier. I promise." He whispered to her, placing his sliver blade at her neck. What he didn't know was that she wasn't thinking about her impending doom or hoping that someone would help her. She was thinking a more profane version of screw you and planning her next move on him while he promised her a quick and painless death. 

She bit his fingers causing him to recoil in pain and spit before swinging her head back to hit him square in the face with the back of her head. She rolled forward quickly out of his grasp and got to her feet, forming her hands into fists and preparing for an oncoming attack. Mina wasn't the kind of give in without a fight, even if a painless death was a whole hell of a ton better than living this hell. Whatever, she thought to herself. There's no way I'm dying to this guy. 

She glared at him. He was tall-ish with spiky red hair and lots of rippling muscles. He was wearing a professional-looking white overcoat and black pants along with an interesting black choker with a red, lightning-shaped pendant hanging from it. Mina found that she actually didn't mind looking at him. He wasn't the least attractive man on earth. Actually far from it. But she did have to remind herself that he was most certainly the enemy right now. And if he thought she was going to just give up and die, well he was sorely mistaken. 

Her stern expression had softened into one of stark curiosity so she had to harden it back up into something more fitting for the situation. "Who are you?" She demanded harshly. The man just shook his head and sighed, as if she had just made his job that much harder because she just had. However, since she assumed that his job was killing her, she didn't mind making it as difficult for him as possible. 

"Who I am doesn't matter, but I promise you that if you just relax and close your eyes I'll make your death as painless as possible. You're making this harder than it needs to be," He said with a sigh. This guy sure sighed a lot. What was his deal anyway? Who would have a vendetta against her? She wasn't even worth having a vendetta against! 

She scoffed. "Yeah, well, I don't really feel like kicking the bucket just yet, buddy. I've got a whole lot left to live for in the real world, so I can't be dying in a virtual one now can I?" She folded her arms across her chest indignantly. Stupid PK'er. She guessed that he didn't even stop to consider the possibility of her having a family to get back to. Or he really just didn't care. Which was even worse, by the way.

"Fine then. I don't want to kill you, but you seemed to have chosen the hard way of doing this," He unsheathed his sword and lunged skillfully at her. She just barely dodged it and her eye widened at his alarming speed. Who was she, a lowly beastmaster, to challenge a clearly very skilled swordsman? Nevertheless, however, she just jumped backward, choosing to go on the defensive instead of engaging him in direct head-to-head combat. She knew she would lose that battle. 

Before she had a chance to perceive what was going on, the sharp edge of the blade was coming straight at her throat. She side-stepped it as quickly as she possibly could and, using her small window of opportunity to make a move, she kicked the blade from his hand. But she had neglected to notice one key thing about the blade before she did. 

She caught it in the air but, much to her surprise, it shocked her, painfully so. She dropped it immediately, holding her hand to her stomach in pain that she couldn't tell if she could feel. She mentally slapped herself as she looked at the shiny silver blade laying on the ground between her and her opponent. Blood red electricity ran the lengths of the blade. She should've noticed it earlier. Her eyes immediately traveled to his neck where the red lightning pendant hung. 

Of course! The weapon's linked to him. Stupid Mina, you should've noticed the necklace before. Well, you're really fucked now, aren't you? 

However, she did have one way out. If she could keep him away from the weapons long enough you get his health depleted sufficiently, then maybe she could catch him off guard a little easier. She jumped in front of the sword, and since the were blocked off on both sides of the road by a thick layer of trees, she had effectively blocked off his only means of getting to his prised possession. 

This girl was putting up more fo a fight than he had expected. Of course, he had never done anything like this before. Taking the life of another living person was a complete and utter violation of everything he believed in, but these were special circumstances. A life for a life, that was his deal. Well, more like three lives for a life. Everything in this sucky world had a price. 

She suddenly swung at him, and she didn't exactly miss... No, she hit him square in the face. IN real life he would have a broken nose and there would be a shit ton of blood by now. But since it was all virtual, he just felt the stinging pain and lost a surprising amount of hit points based on her strength. This was a surprising turn of events becuase based on what he'd seen of her, she was significantly weaker than he was. But this was no surprise to Mina because she had a mean right hook in Aincrad and in the real world. 

She took her chance to jump on him and punch him again. Sure she felt bad about beating up some random guy, and no she wasn't planning on killing him, but unconscious would be preferrable-

He suddenly flipped their positions by pushing on her shoulder roughly and pinning her to the ground. She squirmed under him, but he didn't move. Usually, he was a gentleman and the moment she made any sort of movement or said anything that suggested he was making her uncomfortable he would move. But now was not the time to be gentlemanly.

Mina watched in stark annoyance as he reached out his hand and the sword came flying into it. That was the thing about enchanted weapons, especially linked ones, they always came when you called, no matter how far away they were from you. She had forgotten about this fact until she saw the long sword pick itself up from the ground where hse had left it and come flying over to him. 

I wonder how much that cost...She thought in annoyance.

Then she sighed, realizing she was done for. He had the sword, he was fully on top of her now and there was about a zero percent chance that she was doing any escaping at the moment, so she relaxed. She let her muscles go limp and she let her eye close in preparation for having her throat slit. And that's when she thought of her master plan. 

Her eyes suddenly shot open and she put on her most innocent and curious look, hoping that it would stall him just long enough for her to get a word out. And it did. 

"So why are you doing this anyway?" She asked suddenly, catching him off guard as he raised his hand in the air to presumably cut her head off. "I mean, I can't say that I'm really worth killing. My level is so low that just about anyone could do it...So why you?" 

He looked at her strangely for a moment, wondering if he should answer her or not. If he had been more the hardened criminal type, he would've just slit her throat right then and there and not given it a second thought. But, since he was far from anything resembling a murderer, he felt compelled to answer her. After all, he was about to end her life in both the virtual world and the real world. He was about to steal away her future and her family from her. Didn't he at least owe her an explanation?

He relaxed his tense posture, if only slightly, for a split second as he opened his mouth to answer her. "Ever heard of a life for a life?" He asked her sadly. His eyes had suddenly gotten somber, not that they weren't before, but before she could sense that he was trying his best to nullify all his emotions. Now he just looked...so sad... He didn't wait for her to answer him. "My friend Sero died a week ago. And there's an artifact. It's called the Resurrection Charm that allows you to revive someone...from the dead. And the people who have it, want you dead," He saw the confusion in her eyes and felt he needed to let her know how uncorrupted his motives were. How little he himself knew about this. "Don't ask me why. I have no idea. But they want you and your two really strong friends...." Well, that was a slap in the face, she thought sarcastically to herself. Even the villain thinks I'm weak. "Dead."

She just gave him a sympathetic look and nodded. Yeah, she could see he was stuck between some bad guys and probably having to go on anti-depressants, but she didn't want to die! She sighed. She wasn't going to let this random guy hurt her best friend and the other guy in their party. So, she diverted.

"Hey, what's your name?" She asked gently. This guy was no seasoned hitman. 

"Ejiro Kirishima," He answered reluctantly. He looked down shamefully. What kind of person had he even become? But, much to his surprise, she didn't look like she was judging him or held really anything but kindness for him. Who was this girl?

"Hey, no need to look so sad," She smiled warmly and said the words kindly. You would be hard-pressed to find someone more compassionate and understanding than Mina. Even if she was partially manipulating him for her own personal gain, she also did care about getting him, this complete stranger, what he needed. "Could you...uh, let me sit up? I feel like this conversation would function better if we're both on equal footing." She laughed casually. 

After a moment of thinking it over, he backed off of her and let her sit up. He really shouldn't be doing this, letting her have so much liberty, after all, she should be dead by now, but she was the first person other than his dead friend who even seemed to understand him. So he let her at least be comfortable and he rationalized this by telling himself he'd kill her quickly once they were finished with their conversation. 

"What's your name?" He asked softly, forcing his own friendly demeanor despite the deep sadness he was always feeling more recently. If there was such a thing as anti-depressants in Aincrad, he should probably be on them, but since there weren't, he forced himself to stay as positive as possible. She just smiled a lovely and compassionate smile and he might have blushed just a little bit at her kindness. 

"My name is Mina!" 

.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡ ﾟ+..｡*ﾟ+


	10. Chapter Ten: Can We Keep Him?

""You are so cheating," Todoroki peered at Momo over the edge of his Uno cards which were fanned out in front of him with a look that was dripping with sarcasm. She gave him a smug smile before placing down a draw four and causing him to swear loudly. She broke out in laughter. Momo, in truth, was not cheating, though she had still somehow managed to win the last three rounds and was enjoying seeing Todoroki get infuriated over that fact.

"Am not,'' She stuck her tongue out between her lips, wetting them before they formed a sunny smile. Todoroki's breath caught in his throat for a moment but he just counteracted it by clearing his throat loudly and spurring Momo to ask him if he needed a drink of water. She shook his head as he drew four cards with a grudging hpmf sound.

"You are, but I'm going to let it slide," He said, placing down a newly drawn draw four of his own. She rolled her eyes back in her head and let out a groan. He just smirked at her wryly and chuckled slightly. Payback was a bitch and Todoroki was that bitch. 

"God, I hate you," She joked with a sweet smile as she drew four from the pile. Who would've thought that a world as depressing and hopeless as Aincrad would have something as god tier as Uno? Of course, the only thing that could've made this particular scenario better was if they could eat Doritos and kitkats while they played the most cutthroat round of Uno in existence, but since those things didn't exist in Aincrad, they settled on water. 

It was only after Momo had drawn four that Mina burst through the door with a big smile plastered on her face. Following closely and quite hesitantly behind her was a man with red and pointy teeth who gave Momo and Todoroki sheepish smiles. Momo smiled back and waved slightly and Todoroki just looked completely stern-faced at the man. He knew perfectly well how unnerving his 'I don't trust you' expression was which is why he had it.

"Mina, who's this?" Momo asked, trying to be polite. As a person who was very often quite too trusting, Momo was really trying to hold her assumptions that he was automatically going to be friendly to them under control. Although, if Mina brought him back, he couldn't be all that much trouble, right? 

"His name is Kirishima!" Mina said delightedly and Momo eyed the man with a healthy dose of suspicion but a smile as well, not wanting to look impolite. "I was in the forest and I was taming a lion and then the lion ran away, that stupid coward and then Kiri here tried to kill me but now we're all good because he was just doing it because he's a good guy and someone's life was on the line and-"

"Hold on. Back up to the part where he tried to kill you," Todoroki said sternly, standing up sharply and shaking the table full of Uno cards as he did. His hand was already on his sword and flipping it out in one graceful motion, which made Kirishima hold his hands up in slight surrender.

"Relax with the whole protective big brother thing for a second will you?" Mina rolled her eyes though she secretly appreciated Todoroki caring about her well being. You would be hard-pressed to find someone more emotionally distant than Todoroki, but with them having traveled around for weeks on end together even he had to admit that he cared about them, even if it was just a little. "He's nice! He even promised not to kill us in our sleep," She joked, but it seemed that it was still a little too raw because Todoroki looked at her unamusedly and Kirishima just cringed. "Okay, badly timed joke, but seriously, he's a good guy." She didn't mention the part about Sero specifically because she figured that was his information to tell and he was silently grateful for that. "Okay..." Momo said slowly on an intake of breath, debating silently in her head whether or not to let him stay. She liked meeting new people as much as the next person, but there really wasn't any reason they should trust him...Although they did have Mina's vote for him, so that did mean a lot... Mina could see this written on Momo's face and raised her eyebrows and batted her eyelashes as if she were asking her big sister for a favor. "Can we keep him? Please?" Mina asked, bearing her a toothy grin that she knew Momo couldn't resist on her best day. Momo's lips melted into a smile at her friend's begging and with an overly emphasized sigh, she rolled her eyes slightly and said, "I guess so." ➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶

"Fuck you!"

"I bet you wish you could, but right now I'm more focused on finding a way out of this place, fam!" Camie stuck her tongue out and winked at the ash-blonde who's face was enveloped with a bright red blush. She quite liked the color of it which is why she took so many risks with what she joked about with him. She knew that he was probably far more powerful than she was at the moment which is why she had purposely sought him out to make a part with. And also because she really wanted his bracelet. But she really liked the way he looked when she teased him.

"I'm gonna kill you," He said matter-of-factly, glaring sternly at her as he shoved his hands in his pockets his red eyes boring into her intensely. They had moved to somewhere far more private after their dual and they were currently sharing a moment under the enormous cherry blossom tree that sat directly in the middle of the seventy-third floor. It was beautiful, but it was not often visited by active players because there was nothing to gain from being there other than peace. And it was really less of a charming moment than it was a very strange business deal.

"Okay, fam, but give me the bracelet first. That deal is binding," She winked at him as he grudgingly transferred the incredibly powerful bracelet form his inventory to hers. he hated that he had to give it up and he was assuming that his power would drop considerably after he gave it up, but his power level actually didn't change at all, much to his surprise. He eyed her skeptically, wondering just what she had not told him. She just released a sunny laugh that flooded his stomach with butterflies, though he ignored them. "You're probably wondering why you're not supes weak right now, right?" She leaned over slightly, twirling her milky, honey-colored hair around her delicate finger. "I forgot to mention that the effects of this handy little item here are negated by that brace you got. So really, I'm actually doing you a favor! Just don't forget that you can only have one legendary item of each type on at once, fam."

She smiled and gave him a small salute which only served to confuse him more. Had she just done...something nice for him? Was he supposed to thank her? And herein lies Bakugou's biggest weakness: human interaction. It wasn't that he was incredibly socially awkward or anything. It wasn't even that he didn't understand emotions, he just didn't know how to express them. And he deliberately avoided scenarios that would put him in the situation to have to say thank you because he hated thanking people.

"Anyway," She ignored his silence and continued. "You wanna form a party?" She asked, her honey-brown eyes glittering in the was spring sunshine. He detested the fact that those eyes of hers really made him feel a way.

"No, bitch, I work alone," Was his immediate answer. Because he did, work alone that is. He specifically didn't work with people because they annoyed the fuck out of him, and he knew that if he couldn't work with her specifically. Like seriously, how was he supposed to work with someone that was so comfortable making every sentence he said into some sort of sexual joke (although, he used the word fuck a lot so he was kind of setting himself up for it) or sarcastic comment. And god, he would have no control over what they did because every time she looked at him with those eyes he felt like he had to say yes. So, he was just stopping it before it began.

"Oh, c'mon fam pleeeease...?" She whined and leaned against the rich bark of the cherry blossom tree, pushing out her full bottom lip to form a pout.

"No-"

"PLEASE." She looked up at him with those honey-brown eyes and he just fucking broke inside, forcing him to swallow roughly and tighten his jaw. But she didn't look away and just kept staring at him innocently and silently begging him to say yes which, at the beginning of a minute he had assured himself wouldn't happen. But by the end of said minute, he found himself growled,

"Jesus fuck, fine goddammit. But you don't talk, and you don't make any jokes, and we do what I say we do." She just smiled, perking up instantly as they formed the party and said,

"Great! Let's go back to my place it's nice!" There went his control in an instant. He grumbled and griped the whole way there. God, if she was going to drag him everywhere he was going to make it a living hell for her. Although every time he swore at her or grumbled at her, or ignored her when she tried to make conversation, she just fucking laughed it off! It made him so angry! If she wasn't adorable and he didn't want to play in red, he would totally have killed her by now.


End file.
